Government targets 7.5% GDP growth in FY23

The government has set a 7.5 percent GDP growth target for the new fiscal year starting Jul 1.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said this while unveiling a Tk 6.78 trillion national budget on Thursday.

He said: “The government plans to bank on strong domestic and external demand to drive economic growth in the medium term.”

"Consumption and investment to increase the domestic demand and exports to increase the external demand will be one of our areas to focus on. Our goal will be to build improved communications, necessary infrastructure and ensure power and energy security through increased public, private and foreign investment," he added.

Spurred by a record GDP growth of 8.15 percent in FY19, the finance minister had again set a target of 8.2 percent GDP growth for fiscal 2019-20 but the number had to be revised down to 6.1 percent as the economy went through a turbulent phase. The country only achieved 3.45 percent growth that year.

The growth rate increased to 6.94 percent in the fiscal 2020-2021 and after riding out another wave of the pandemic, the GDP target was increased to 7.2 percent for the ongoing year.