Planning Minister MA Mannan said that the major international donor agencies like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank now consider Bangladesh as a miracle due to its massive socio-economic progress over the last 10 years on Sunday, reports BSS. “All including the World Bank and the ADB now consider Bangladesh as a miracle…………..every year the country is witnessing huge development budget,” he said, addressing a program titled ‘2019-20 Budget: Thoughts and Expectations of Students’ held at Daffodil Tower in the city.
Chaired by Vice-Chancellor of Daffodil International University Dr Yousuf Mahbubul Islam, the function was addressed, among others, by Chairman of Daffodil International University Dr Md Sabur Khan, Executive Director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr Fahmida Khatun, MD and CEO of Shimanto Bank Limited Mukhlesur Rahman and Treasurer of Daffodil University Hamidul Haque Khan.
Speaking as the chief guest, the planning minister said the government of Sheikh Hasina, over the last 10 years, awarded the nation with a bigger budget every year and thus helped building the country suitable for the 21st century through making planned investment. Although inequality and disparity still persist, Mannan said, the government has significantly reduced the poverty rate to 20 percent which was 44 percent when the AL government assumed office in 2009.
The planning minister said the government wants to allocate more in the development sector, adding, “We’re allocating more in the development sector now, but it’s not enough compared to the demand and ratio.” He said that the allocation gap between the development and the non-development sectors has decreased over the last 10 years and it would further reduce in the coming years.
Mannan said the country had to depend a lot on foreign aid after independence, but nowadays, the government borrows cautiously from the lenders and it does not exceed 2 percent of the GDP. He suggested the students to follow Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as their idol due to her honesty, dedication, patience, timeliness, wisdom, courage and leadership.
