Admitting that the present investment scenario is not satisfactory compared with all other economic indicators, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury on Tuesday blamed the BNP-Jamaat nexus for the plight.
“Domestic investment is little bit down, I won’t deny the fact, but the opposition (BNP-Jamaat) was more responsible than the government for this. They did not left a single stone unturned for their mayhem during the election period,” she said in Parliament while taking part in the general discussion on the proposed budget for the 2014-15 fiscal.
The Agriculture Minister alleged that the opposition BNP-Jamaat unleashed a reign of terror in support of their demand for caretaker government.
“The destructive activities took a huge toll on infrastructure and industrial sector, ultimately affecting the overall growth rate,” she said.
Terming the allocation for the agriculture sector in the proposed budget as satisfactory, Matia Chowdhury said allocation for the agriculture sector has been increased to Tk 12,390 crore in the next budget from the existing Tk 12,279 crore.
She strongly criticized a section of people who are claiming that allocation for the agriculture sector in the budget is not adequate.
The Agriculture Minister said that her Ministry always gets money from the Finance Ministry when needed.
“The Prime Minister and the Finance Minister are very much cordial to Agriculture and this helped the country to achieve self-sufficiency in food production.”
In this connection, she said agriculture is not the only sector the government would have look after, it has to give attention to other sectors as well.
Talking about the much-hyped Padma Bridge, Matia said that the new budget has proposed to allocate Tk 8,100 crore for this project. “If this bridge is constructed, the agriculture sector will get a lot of benefit.”
Terming the existing 10 percent advance income tax on savings certificates as a barrier to boosting investment, she said this discourages the small savers including pensioners and other people who mainly depend on such instruments.
The Agriculture Minister requested the Finance Minister to consider the 10 percent advance income tax on savings tools as the final settlement for the greater interest of the common people.
She also proposed to raise the maximum investment ceiling in saving certificates to Tk 60 lakh from the existing Tk 30 lakh.
Matia termed the proposed budget for 2014-15 fiscal as pro-people and development friendly.
Highlighting the massive successes the agriculture sector has achieved, she said that overall food production increased by 66 lakh metric tons and rice production by 53 lakh metric tons during the last five years.
Source: UNB Connect
