Bangladesh curbs ‘unnecessary’ foreign tours of government officials

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said the government will curb official overseas tours of public servants as part of efforts to cut spending.

It will also defer projects that are not urgent, he said after a meeting of the cabinet committee on government purchase on Wednesday.

The minister faced questions from reporters on criticism of the government over officials making “unnecessary” foreign tours at the expense of taxpayers' money.

“We’ve made a decision. These [the ‘needless’ tours] had been approved earlier. But the prime minister has said there'll be no unnecessary foreign trips. No one will go abroad without special reason. It will be reduced.”

“And the projects that can be implemented later will be postponed for now,” he said, citing the impact of the Ukraine-Russia war on the global economy. “We may have to take many such tough decisions until the external vulnerabilities go away.”

“These are not shortcomings. We just want to manage these things effectively.”

He did not specify for how long the government’s “tough decisions” will remain effective. “You can’t say when the Russia-Ukraine war will end. Although there is no COVID, the effects of the war have spread worldwide. Everyone is suffering for this.”

Kamal also defended the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data that the country’s economy has been growing at 7.25 percent in 2021-22 fiscal year. Some economists doubt the BBS data.

“We've not changed the method of counting GDP growth. I think we're correct,” said Kamal, a former planning minister.

“The IMF, the World Bank and others have not objected to what we have said so far. It is clear that they agree with us. You can realise how strong and dynamic Bangladesh’s economy is if you look around.”

He said economists should hold discussions with government officials if they have any objection to the BBS data.