Taking a swipe at the critics, who are apprehending that the situation of Bangladesh would turn like Sri Lanka, Prime Minister's Principal Secretary Dr Ahmad Kaikaus on Tuesday said that it is quite unfortunate to compare Bangladesh with Sri Lanka.
"There is nothing unfortunate than this when some people are comparing Bangladesh with Sri Lanka. Bangladesh is far away from Sri Lanka. There is nothing shameful than the matter of comparing Bangladesh with Sri Lanka," he said.
The Prime Minister's Principal Secretary said this addressing a press briefing on the current economic situation held at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday.
Finance Division Senior Secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder, NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem, ERD Secretary Fatima Yasmin and Financial Institutions Division Secretary Sheikh Mohammad Salim Ullah were present at the briefing.
Kaikaus said that the Awami League government especially Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina takes every step after scrutinizing it thoroughly.
He informed that the Premier had spent three hours of her precious time today to assess the current situation of Bangladesh compared to Sri Lanka.
"She has gone through each and every data over the issue."
The Principal Secretary said although they had earlier suggested to the Prime Minister that there is no way of Bangladesh having a situation like Sri Lanka, but, the Premier instead had gone through every related data and then she had become convinced that the situation is not the same.
"This is the characteristics of our Prime Minister which also boosts the courage of our officials," he added.
Highlighting comparative data of various conditions between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Kaikaus said, "We've proved time and again that we can deliver, but those who have expressed apprehension over the issue have been proved wrong. How much they (critics) should be ashamed of their act...it's my question."
He said it is also quite unfortunate that a trend had been created in Bangladesh over an era ago to create a huge hue and cry.
Earlier, the Prime Minister witnessed a presentation on "offshore tax amnesty" and "review of Bangladesh's macroeconomy against the backdrop of Sri Lankan economic crisis" at her official residence Ganabhaban.
Echoing with the PM's Principal Secretary, Finance Division Senior Secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder said those who are comparing Bangladesh with Sri Lanka are apparently maligning Bangladesh. "There is no reason for making such comparison."
Citing comparative data, Rouf said that the condition of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is totally different as the debt to GDP ratio of Bangladesh is only 12 percent while it is around 48 percent in case of Sri Lanka.
Moreover, he informed that the average interest rate of foreign loans of Sri Lanka is 7.5 percent which is only 1.4 percent for Bangladesh.
"Based on such macroeconomic situation, we want to say that we don't want to compare us with Sri Lanka and even with Pakistan. We think that we are moving ahead in our own pace," he added.
The Finance Secretary said when a country becomes bankrupt, it cannot repay its debt. "But, if we look at our portfolio, there is no chance for us to become failure in repaying even an installment of loans in the coming years," he said.
Rouf said there are four big economies in the South Asia with India topping the list followed by Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Even the GDP size of Bangladesh is bigger than the combined GDP size of Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Besides, he said the Bangladesh's export earnings are also higher than the combined export earnings of Pakistan and Sri Lanka adding that the foreign currency reserves of Bangladesh is also around double than the combined foreign currency reserves of the two countries.
Listing the fast growing economic growth of Bangladesh, the Finance Secretary said that the GDP growth reached 6.94 percent in the last fiscal year while it is also poised to cross 7.2 percent.
