Bangladesh
Finance Minister Govt officials cannot visit foreign countries without special needs: Finance Minister
Own Correspondent, Dhaka, May 11: Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said that government officials and employees can not travel abroad without special needs.
He said this while responding to a question from reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Public Procurement held under the chairmanship of the Finance Minister on Wednesday (May 11).
When asked about the rise in foreign visits of government officials despite taking steps to reduce unnecessary expenditure, the Finance Minister said, "We have taken a decision in this regard. The ones you are seeing are pre-approved. In all those cases we have approved. From now on, the Prime Minister has made it clear that if there is no need, there will be no foreign tours. If there is a special need they will go, otherwise no one will go. It will be reduced."
Regarding the projects, the minister said, "If we do not do these projects now, after six months, there will be no problem or loss, no damage to the country's macro-economy and GDP. We have postponed the time without canceling them."
In response to a question about the skepticism of economists about the GDP calculation, AHM Mustafa Kamal said, "We are calculating the GDP in the same way. We didn't add any companies, we didn't change the way we calculated. I think we're fine. The information we have given is for the people of the country."
"We are not afraid. We want you to give advice. So far, no one, including the IMF-World Bank, has objected to what we have said. They agree with us, that is obvious. If you look around, you can understand how strong and fast the economy of the country is," he added.
