Finance minister assures parliament of steps to control inflation

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Monday said due to the steps taken by the government, inflation will be brought under control.

"The balance of payment will improve and the exchange rate of foreign currency will stabilise," the finance minister said while responding to a tabled question from ruling party MP Momtaz Begum.

The finance minister said the government has various plans to control inflation, improving the balance of payment situation and stabilising the exchange rate of foreign currency and is implementing them.

He presented several steps in the parliament. Among these are making the exchange rate with the US dollar and other foreign currencies market-based; ensuring import of goods at the right price to rebuild reserves; reducing foreign exchange holding limits in commercial banks; obligation to show source of expatriate income of more than $5000 is abolished; expediting the disbursement of foreign financing in the pipeline.

In response to the question of Jamalpur-5 MP Mozaffar Hossain, the Finance Minister said a high-powered task force was formed in 2009 to solve the problem of stagnant industries.

According to their decision, 279 sick garments in 2010 and 2012 and 100 sick textile industries in 2011 and 2015 were issued debt cancellation circulars.

To a question from Mymensingh-11 MP Kazim Uddin Ahmed, the finance minister that in the current fiscal year 2023-24, an allocation of Tk35,000 crore has been set for distribution in the form of loans in the agriculture and rural credit sector through banks in the 'Agriculture and Rural Credit Policy and Programme'.

Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar while responding to a question of Samil Uddin Ahmed Shimul of Chapainawabganj-1 Constituency, said the prevailing call rate has been determined in 2018 by analysing the market, socio-economic context, etc.

"Currently, there is no plan to reschedule the call rates," he said.

At present, the maximum call rate is Tk2 and the minimum is 45 paisa, said the minister.

He said that mobile operators have to design packages between tariffs for on-net and off-net voice calls in a specific package/offer/bundle.

Although the maximum rate is Tk2, the operators design different packages at a rate of less than Tk1 per minute through competition among themselves.

In response to the question of Naogaon-2 Awami League MP Shahiduzzaman Sarkar, the minister of Posts and Telecommunications said four mobile operators are being operated in the country.

In the financial year 2022-23, the companies paid a revenue of Tk3,178.91 crore to the government.