IMF support needed to sustain development: Finance Minister

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has called International Monetary Fund (IMF) and development partners to continue financial support to Bangladesh to maintain the country’s economic development trend.

He made this call during a meeting with visiting IMF Deputy Managing Director (DMD) Antoinette Monsio Sayeh at Pan Pacific Hotel Sonargaon in the capital on Sunday (January 15).

At this time, Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder, Finance Department Senior Secretary Fatima Yeasmin, Economic Relations Department Secretary Sharifa Khan, Financial Institutions Secretary Sheikh Mohammad Salim Ullah and Energy and Mineral Resources Department Secretary Dr Md Khairuzzaman Majumder and other senior officials were present.

The Finance Minister welcomed the Deputy Managing Director of IMF on behalf of Bangladesh. Referring to the continuous progress of Bangladesh, the minister said, after independence, our GDP was only 6.3 billion US dollars in 1972. It took us almost 38 years to cross the $100 billion milestone in 2009. Bangladesh is now the 35th largest economy in the world. Our GDP is now 465 billion dollars. Whereas last year we were the 41st largest economy with USD 396 billion. Our next goal is to become an upper-middle income country by 2031 and a smart developed country by 2041. We need to ensure adequate mobilization of domestic and foreign resources to achieve our development goals. In this regard, as always, we seek the cooperation of the development…