Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told Parliament that her newly formed government is committed to continue the journey towards development in the next five years. The head of government said that by 2041, Bangladesh will be a 'smart developed country', where the per capita income will be more than 12,500 US dollars and which will be compatible with the digital world. She said, 'Bangladesh has achieved success in all fields in the last 15 years as a result of the government's development plan, far-reaching activities and constructive steps. "The people have given the Awami League government a mandate for development through voting." she added.   Earlier, Awami League won 223 parliamentary seats in the 12th national parliamentary election and formed the government. The opposition Jatiya Party won 11 seats. Independent candidates won 62 seats. Besides, Workers Party, Jasad and Kalyan Party got 1 seat each.

The country’s economy will grow by record 8.13 percent in the current fiscal year (FY19) while the per capita income will reach US$1,909, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday. The minister said this while briefing reporters after the day’s National Economic Council (NEC) meeting held at its conference room with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. Planning Minister MA Mannan was present. Reports BSS. Referring to the provisional estimation of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Kamal said that the GDP growth rate is to reach 8.13 percent against 7.86 percent recorded in the last fiscal year. He also said that the per capita income will increase to $1909 from $1751 in the last fiscal year. The finance minister informed that the investment-GDP ratio in the current fiscal year is to reach 31.57 percent from 31.13 percent in the previous fiscal year. Out of the total provisional investment-GDP ratio of 31.57 percent in the current year, the public investment ratio to GDP will rise to 8.17 percent while the private investment ratio to GDP will rise to 23.40 percent. He said that the total size of the GDP in the current fiscal year will rise to Taka 25,36,177 crore from Taka 22,50,479 crore recorded in the last fiscal year. The finance minister said that the areas of potentials are huge in the country, but many of those still remained unexplored. “We’ll have to explore those areas,” Terming the private sector the ‘engine of growth’, Kamal said that they would give more incentives to the private sector to bring it more into the mainstream of the economy. Mentioning that all the major macroeconomic indicators are now better, he said the rising trend of export earnings as we as inward remittance, increased investment as well as the growing size of the manufacturing sector have been helping in achieving this “eye-catching” growth. The finance minister also expressed his high optimism about attaining double digit growth rate within the next four years. According to the BBS provisional data, the growth of the agriculture sector in this year is going to reach 3.51 percent while the industry sector 13.02 percent and the services sector 6.50 percent. Besides, the GNI in the current fiscal year will reach Taka 26,49,786 crore and the per capita GDP $1,827.  AH