Integrated transition in all areas of economy needed to achieve GDP growth target: ICAB

The government requires an integrated transition in all areas of the economy to achieve the GDP growth target of 7.2% set for the 2021-22 fiscal year, said the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) today.

It is difficult to achieve the target but not impossible, the ICAB said in its conference paper.

Efficiency, transparency and accountability are essential for the implementation, it said.

Md Shahadat Hossain, a council member at ICAB and Snehasish Barua, a fellow member of the institute, jointly delivered the conference paper at a press conference on ICAB's expectations from the proposed national budget for FY 2021-22.

They said the target for borrowing from the banking system for the entire financial year is Tk 76,452 crore. "We think that government expenditure will have to increase even if we borrow now, to keep the economy vibrant."

Speaking at the programme, Mahmudul Hasan Khusru, president of ICAB, said reduction of corporate tax, tax exemption in various industries, particularly to agriculture and agro-based industry and building hospitals outside the major cities will ultimately help in creation of new jobs.