Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday said the government of Bangladesh may restructure non-essential projects to tackle the impacts of Russia-Ukraine war.
According to the minister, the whole world is facing impact of the war after tackling the Covid-19 pandemic.
He also said that nobody can say when the Russia-Ukraine war will come to an end.
Considering it, the minister said, implementations of the non-essential projects could be deferred, but not cancelled.
“We are restructuring such projects so that we can effectively manage the situation. Through our management, our economy will receive further pace,” he said after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase on Wednesday, reports UNB.
The minister said the government may take hard decisions to tackle the global vulnerabilities caused by Russia-Ukraine war.
Clarifying his remark on hard decisions, the finance minister said: “It does not mean the wheel of the economy or our development will come to a standstill.”
He said the government may decide to temporarily stop importing luxury items. “But we can buy those items two months or six months later”.
His remarks came when his attention was drawn to the Bangladesh Bank’s recent decision on increasing LC margin for import of luxury items and the prime minister’s instruction for not taking new road construction projects.
Responding to a question on frequent foreign trips of the government officials he said the prime minister has already issued directives against such tours unless these are very exclusive or essential from a strategic point of view.
Asked about the projected GDP growth at 7.2 per cent and doubts expressed by some economists, the FM defended the government’s position.
“We have calculated the GDP in the conventional way and no new component was added to it. Even there is no change in the methodology of calculation and it maintained the consistency.
“If anybody has any doubt, let them consult,” he said.