New poor from Covid-19 pandemic is temporary: Mannan

Planning Minister MA Mannan on Monday said the new poor created in the country owing to Covid-19 pandemic is temporary and it is possible to eradicate such poverty in a speedy manner through timely implementation of the government programmes and collecting more revenues.

“The new poor, created in the country due to Covid-19 pandemic, is temporary,” he said.

The minister was addressing a virtual discussion on the proposed budget for FY22 organized jointly by the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and the Policy Research Institute (PRI).

Moderated by MCCI President Nihad Kabir, Parliamentary Standing Committee Chairman on Ministry of Finance AH Mahmood Ali, Parliamentary Standing Committee Chairman on Public Accounts Waseqa Ayesha Khan, Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh, PRI Chairman Zaidi Sattar and Executive Director Ahsan H Mansur, MCCI Vice-President Anis A Khan spoke, among others, at the programme.

PRI Research Director MA Razzaque and MCCI Tariff and Taxation Sub-committee Chairman Adib H Khan made two separate presentations.

Mentioning that the government has been working very sincerely to alleviate poverty further, Mannan said houses are being built for the landless and homeless people under the initiative of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“The ownership of some 53,000 homes was gifted to such landless and homeless people yesterday (Sunday) along with power connections, sanitation and safe drinking water facilities. Besides, people are being given cash support,” he added.

The minister highlighted that various initiatives have been taken in the proposed budget for poverty alleviation apart from the ongoing government programmes to address the issue.

“So, we hope that those who have become poor afresh would be able to make a turnaround speedily.”

Opining that the revenue collection has not increased to such extent compared to the growth of resources in the country, Mannan said had the revenue collection increased into much higher level, the government could have undertaken much wider programme to alleviate poverty.

He also urged the business community to come forward in mobilizing more revenues for the government.

He said the businessmen of the country have already termed this proposed budget as “business friendly”.

“Since the government is pledge-bound to expedite the country’s development, we’ve undertaken various initiatives for the expansion of the private sector. We’re listening to various proposals from the businessmen regarding budget with open mind. Rationale recommendations will be considered with positive mindset,” he added.

Responding to a comment whether the government has sufficient data to deal with various things during this Covid-19 pandemic, the minister said there is nothing to hide on behalf of the government.

“We always want to give the right information. Steps have been taken to strengthen further the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) to improve the qualitative standard of its data.”

Mahmood Ali said the new and emerging exportable items apart from RMG are mainly agricultural products while the government has taken right initiative in the proposed budget for exportable product diversification through encouraging use of agricultural machineries.

Nihad Kabir said that a good number of fresh initiatives have been taken in the proposed budget going beyond the traditional trend which would play an important role to flourish the private sector.

But, for this, Nihad put emphasis on proper implementation of the programmes highlighted in the budget.