No money printed for circulation

The government has not printed and released new money into the market despite deep economic crisis, Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said, adding that the Ways and Means Advances stood at Tk 17,590 crore on the day the government took office and fell to Tk 11,103 crore by April 22.

He dismissed reports of fresh money being printed. “The news that Tk 20,000 crore was newly printed is not correct,” the finance minister said. “Since taking office, borrowing to manage the crisis has actually decreased. There is no question of printing money.”

The government borrows from the Bangladesh Bank’s Ways and Means Advances when it faces financial pressure.

The finance minister made these remarks on Saturday at a pre-budget discussion organized by the Economic Reporters Forum (ERF). The discussion took place at the conference room of the Finance Ministry at the secretariat, where he rejected media reports claiming that the government had printed Tk 20,000 crore in new money.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Mostaqur Rahman echoed the finance minister’s statement. He said the government uses Ways and Means Advances to quickly manage financial pressure, and the borrowing had recently risen to Tk 27,000 crore before gradually coming down. He added that claims of money printing were not true.

At the meeting, ERF President Daulat Akhtar Mala presented a set of proposals to the finance minister ahead of the upcoming national budget.

In response, the minister said the proposals were good and would be considered during budget formulation.

“The country’s economy has fallen into difficulty due to wars in the Middle East. The situation is very bad,” the finance minister said. “Even in this crisis, we have not printed money. In the past, printing money and taking loans from local banks damaged the economy, and we must move away from that. We will not return to that policy. Such practices increase interest rates on one hand and crowd out the private sector on the other, which is not sustainable for the economy.”

The finance minister also said that past patronage politics had concentrated the economy in the hands of a few people, turning it into an oligarchic structure. He said this created political influence over the economy. To address this, the government is focusing on the “democratization of the economy.”

He announced plans to increase spending in the health and education sectors in the upcoming national budget. He also said the government is working to bring SMEs, rural cottage industries, artisans, and the creative economy into the mainstream.

He added that the government is prioritizing new economic sectors such as sports, culture, theatre, cinema, and music. These sectors contribute to GDP but have long been overlooked, he said.

Highlighting current economic challenges, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said weak banking discipline, currency depreciation, and high inflation are putting pressure on the private sector, with many industries underperforming.

He also described increasing the tax-to-GDP ratio as ‘very difficult’ in the current situation. He said tax collection cannot improve if business activity remains weak, though the government is working toward that goal. He noted that the World Bank and IMF have long called for an increase in the tax-to-GDP ratio.