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Govt adopts strict stance
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(Ecnec) for approval. A good number of projects were approved too.
For example, at an Ecnec meeting on October 31, the government approved 37 projects from a list of 50. Of them, 27 were new and the rest revised ones.
The Ecnec meeting on November 9 approved 45 new and revised projects.
A finance ministry official said after the national polls, depending on the fiscal situation, the ministry might go for relaxing the measures.
According to the revised budget directive, the number of projects in the revised ADP has to be limited, with less important projects removed altogether, to accommodate priority projects.
If ministries and divisions concerned fail to submit their development project proposals by January next year, they will not be included in the revised ADP, says the directive.
The official said the Bangladesh Bank, along with the finance ministry, has been preparing an action plan to restore stability in the country’s macroeconomy, which includes containing inflation and increasing foreign currency reserves.
Bangladesh’s forex reserves stood at $19.52 billion on November 22, down from a record high of $40.7 billion in August 2021.
The action plan will be submitted to the government after the national election, the official said.
“The action plan will be vital for determining expenditure for new and revised projects from the block allocations.”
The finance division will also continue to maintain its previous austerity measures, which came into effect at the beginning of this fiscal year, like refraining from buying new vehicles and allowing foreign trips and reducing allocations for electricity and fuel.
The finance division also asked ministries and divisions to submit their revised budget proposals by December 7.
The official said they would start preparing the revised budget for the ongoing fiscal year soon and it would be finalised by the new government after the national election, which is slated for January 7.

Policy rate hiked
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entirely,” said Mansur, adding that the lending rate margin should be increased by 60 basis points.
The central bank maintained the lending rate cap between April 2020 and June this year. Although it has since lifted the ceiling, the rate is still controlled to a large extent since it is based on the interest rates of treasury bills and bonds.
Mansur, a former official of the International Monetary Fund, sees two major challenges facing the economy: higher inflation and the volatility in the dollar market. “The central bank should focus on tackling them.”
Mansur said the exchange rate should be floated and the BB will have to continue its policy on not to print any new money.
Syed Mahbubur Rahman, managing director of Mutual Trust Bank, said the hike in the repo rate will increase the cost of borrowing and drive up the deposit rates.
“As a result, there will be pressure on liquidity in the market.”
He said the government’s bank borrowing and its rates will increase in the coming days. “We are seeing a trend that savers are diverting funds from banks to government treasury bills and bonds.”
The monetary policy committee has also decided to bolster efforts to make the exchange rate market-oriented, said the BB in a statement.