POBNEWS24, Dhaka Nov 9, 2022 : According to the government, overall price inflation was 8.91 percent in October, down from 9.10 percent in the previous month. A major reason for this positive change is the reduction in food inflation.
After the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday, the Minister of Planning gave the information about the decrease in overall inflation. Non-food inflation has increased (9.13 to 9.58 percent), he said.
However, food inflation has come down to 9.08 percent. It was 8.50 percent in the previous month.
A meeting was held yesterday at the NEC conference room in the capital’s Sherebanglanagar under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. In the post-meeting press conference, Planning Minister MA Mannan said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has instructed Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam to take measures to cultivate uncultivated land scattered around the country through the District Administrators.
Highlighting the directives of the Prime Minister, the Planning Minister said that luxury projects cannot be taken up. But small rural projects or welfare oriented projects cannot be compromised. Feasibility checks should be done carefully in undertaking large projects. The Planning Minister said that the global recession is going on, the Prime Minister has advised to be frugal along with reducing wastage.
Remittances are decreasing, it is not true: In response to the questions of journalists in the briefing, State Minister for Planning Shamsul Alam claimed that the emigration income has not decreased and said that the last remittances of 7.198 billion dollars came in July-October. More remittances came from July to October. Exports stood at 16.85 billion. It has increased from last month.
The state minister said, ‘to increase the supply of dollars, the value of money should be reduced. We want more dollars to be supplied to the country. ‘
Disagreeing with the IMF’s information, the state minister said that traditionally the government is protecting the reserves. The government has not hidden anything. Shamsul Alam claims to have reserves of around 35 billion dollars. He said, it does not matter if the IMF does not agree as to the reserves.
Wages have increased, inflation has decreased: Planning Minister said, ‘Wages have increased in the country, inflation has decreased. The wage growth rate stood at 6.91 percent in October, compared to 6.86 percent in the previous month. This is a very good point. Low income people will get some relief due to this. Our expectations for October inflation have been realised. Rural headline inflation declined to 8.92 per cent from 9.13 per cent in the previous month. Headline inflation in the city eased to 8.90 percent from 9.03 percent in the previous month. ‘
Toufiqul Islam Khan, Research Director of Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) told Kal Kantha, ‘Our big problem at this time is inflation. And correct statistics are needed to solve this problem. But there is doubt as to whether our inflation calculations match the reality or not. He said, this calculation is very important to be correct.
Expenditure increased by Tk 947 crore in three projects: A total of 9 projects were approved by Ekne yesterday along with amendments to five projects. Out of these, the cost and duration of three projects have increased. Expenditure increased by 947 crore 41 lakh taka. The remaining two projects have only extended their tenure. Four new projects have been approved.
The total cost of the new and amendment project has been estimated at 3 thousand 981 crore 89 lakh taka. Out of this, 3,392,330,000 rupees will be spent from government funds, 322,210,000 rupees from foreign loan assistance and 267,350,000 rupees from implementing agencies.
Approved projects: The cost of the construction project of Mirsrai and Sandwip of Chittagong, Sonadia Island of Cox’s Bazar and the jetty of Teknaf part along with ancillary facilities has been estimated at 1 thousand 913 crore 70 lakh taka.
In Dhaka North City Corporation area, along with damaged road infrastructure of Region-2 and Region-4, the cost of the development project of the service passages of Region-2, Region-5 has been estimated at Tk 963 crore 30 lakhs.
The cost of electrical, mechanical, security system and other development works of Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad Bhavan area has been estimated at Tk 92 crore 17 lakh.
The cost of expansion project of electricity transmission system of Chittagong region has increased by Tk 502 crore 41 lakh. Amendments have come in the Baroyarhat-Heyako-Ramgarh road widening project.
The cost of sustainable agriculture development project in Dinajpur region has been estimated at 65 crore 32 lakh taka. This is new project. Apart from this, there are Khulna Shipyard Road Widening and Development Project and Barisal Metropolitan and Khulna Police Line Construction Project.
