Govt targets 7.5pc inflation rate by July: Shafiqul

NN Online:

Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam on Sunday said the interim government is optimistic that Bangladesh’s inflation rate will decrease to 7.5 per cent by July, as the country’s economy shows signs of recovery.

He made the remarks at a press briefing held at the Foreign Service Academy.

The press secretary said a meeting on “Bangladesh economy: recent challenges and future way forward” was held at the Chief Adviser’s Office with Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus in the chair.

During the meeting, he said, the overall economy of Bangladesh, power and energy, revenue income, banking sector, foreign trade and other issues were discussed.

Shafiqul Alam said the participants of the meeting claimed that every indicator of the economy shows that Bangladesh’s economy has turned around, while import growth has increased, new jobs have been created and inflation has dropped to a single digit.

“We firmly believe that the inflation rate will decrease to 7.5 per cent by next July…we hope that inflation will not increase during the upcoming Ramadan,” he said.

About the land dispute of the Korean Export Processing Zone (KEPZ), the press secretary said there is a dispute about the 2,500 acres of land of KEPZ and that was why foreign investment did not come to it.

Document of mutation was handed over to the KEPZ authorities on February 6, he said, hoping that now big foreign investors will be interested to invest in the KEPZ.

Chief Adviser’s Deputy Press Secretaries Abul Kalam Azad Majumder and Apurba Jahangir and Assistant Press Secretary Suchismita Tithi were also present at the press briefing.