The interim government has planned to reduce overall inflation to 8% within the current 2024-25 fiscal year, that is, by June of the coming year.
This decision was made at a special meeting regarding the budget, held on Wednesday at the State Guesthouse Jamuna in Dhaka, chaired by Chief Advisor Professor Muhammad Yunus. This information was obtained from sources at the meeting.
Present at the meeting were Economic Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed, Planning Advisor Wahiduddin Mahmud, Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H. Mansur, Finance Secretary Md. Khayeruzzaman Majumder, and various secretaries and additional secretaries from departments under the Ministry of Finance.
The meeting also discussed the revised budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
In the budget formulated by former Finance Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali, the inflation target was set at 6.5%. However, after the fall of the Awami League government on August 5, instability emerged in the economy. Economists have alleged that during the Awami League tenure, the true picture of inflation was concealed.
The current government claims that the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) is now publishing accurate data. According to the latest BBS data, overall inflation decreased slightly to 9.94% in January.
At the Coordination Council meeting held in December under the chairmanship of Economic Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed, the inflation target for the 2025-26 fiscal year was set at 7%.
The meeting also set the new GDP growth target for the 2024-25 fiscal year at 5.25%. The original budget had projected this at 6.8%, but forecasts from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) suggest that the actual growth might not exceed 5%.
In the current fiscal year's budget, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) had set a revenue collection target of 4.8 trillion taka. However, it was decided at the meeting to reduce this by 220 billion taka, bringing the target to 4.635 trillion taka.
After the meeting, Economic Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed told journalists, "The meeting was primarily about the revised budget. The inflation target has been set. Inflation is decreasing and will decrease further after Ramadan. You will see that."