BNP calls 8.13pc GDP growth claim ‘mathematical hype’

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday alleged that the government’s assertion over achieving 8.13 per cent GDP growth in 2018-19 fiscal year is nothing but a trick of mathematics, reports UNB.

“The government used to talk about widespread development of the country. Are they (govt) really developing the country? Economists are saying the government’s statistics on the GDP growth rate are not correct,” he said.

Speaking at an iftar party, the BNP leader further said, “The government is showing the GDP growth with some inflated mathematical figures.”

Bangladesh Labour Party, one of the components of the BNP-led 20-Party Alliance, arranged the iftar event at a city hotel.

Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal at a recent programme said Bangladesh’s GDP growth is set to hit 8.13 per cent in the current fiscal year.

Fakhrul said the current government usurped power using the guns and muscle power. “They imposed an undemocratic and fascist rule on the country’s people obliterating democracy and the election system.”

He said their party chairperson Khaleda Zia has unfairly been kept in jail by ‘influencing the judiciary’ as she did not make any compromise with unfairness and the current ‘despotic’ government.

The BNP leader alleged that homebound people are going through immense sufferings due to chaos and mismanagement on roads and highways before the upcoming eid. “There’s an anarchic situation on roads and railways ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr.”

Fakhrul also alleged that the ruling party men are indulging in plundering in every sector as the government has no accountability to people.