Kamal flags six major challenges facing Bangladesh economy in FY 2022-23

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has marked six major challenges for the next fiscal year while placing the national budget for FY23.

The challenges are:

· Containing inflation and enhancing domestic investment.

· Financing additional subsidy required for the increased price of gas, power and fertiliser in international markets.

· Utilising funds available through foreign assistance and ensuring timely completion of high priority projects of ministries/divisions

· Ensuring timely completion of projects in the education and health sectors

· Increasing collection of local Value Added Tax and raising the number of individual taxpayers

· Maintaining stability in the exchange rate of taka and keeping foreign exchange reserves at a comfortable level.

"We have to be very pragmatic in addressing six major challenges for the next fiscal year as any failure to address them properly may destabilise the macroeconomic stability, the minister said during the parliamentary budget session on Thursday.

"Our major strategy would be to enhance the supply while reducing the growth in demand. Therefore, import-dependent and less important government expenditures will be stopped or reduced."

"The priority of this year’s budget would be to improve the livelihood of people at all levels, continue with uninterrupted economic development and employment generation, and contain inflation in parallel to addressing economic effects originated from COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict."