Per capita income to reach $2,785 in FY22: Finance Minister

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday said the country's economy will recover to normal very soon, expressing optimism that the per capita income will reach $2,785 in the current fiscal year.

According to the provisional estimates of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the per capita income at the end of the last fiscal year stood at $2,554.

This year $231 more will be added to our per capita income, according to the minister. 

The country's high economic growth, which was somewhat hampered because of the pandemic, has quickly been turning around, thanks to various initiatives taken by the government, the finance minister said while explaining the progress in budget implementation in the first quarter of the current fiscal year in Jatiya Sangsad.

"Our economy is returning to its previous state. Key macroeconomic indicators, including revenue collection, export growth, forex reserves, money supply and inflation are now at satisfactory levels. The exchange rate is stable. The implementation of the annual development programme is also having a positive impact," he noted.

"As a result, the economy is likely to return to normal soon," he said.

Talking about declining remittance inflows, the finance minister put a fall in remittance inflows in the first quarter of FY22 down to global downturn in economic growth, a rise in unemployment, and dwindling global trade under effects stemming from the second wave of Covid-19.

However, the finance minister hopes that remittance inflows will return to the previous level as manpower exports have resumed.

Although there is a possibility of an uptick in inflation owing to a rise in fuel prices, it will still be at a tolerable level by the end of the current fiscal year, he said.

The finance minister said credit flow to the private sector increased by 8.77% year-on-year at the end of September.

The growth was still on the lower side because economic recovery efforts were underway to offset Covid effects and the Bangladesh Bank instructed banks to reduce existing bad loans and not to disburse loans to the unproductive sector, he said.

The private sector credit growth is expected to reach close to 14.8% by the end of the current fiscal year as economic activities will get back full momentum in the current financial year, the minister noted.

Mustafa Kamal said even in this pandemic situation, the government has kept on its efforts to ensure uninterrupted credit to the priority sectors, such as agriculture, export-oriented industries, and CMSMEs.