Dhaka: Dismissing the World Bank's recent projection of 6.3 percent GDP growth rate for Bangladesh in the current fiscal year (FY15-16), Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday said the GDP growth could be higher than the provisional estimation of 7.05 percent this year.

‘The growth in the services and industrial sectors is high and boro bumper production is expected this time ...so at the end of the current fiscal year, the GDP growth could be even higher than the provisional estimation of 7.05 percent,’ he told reporters after the Ecnec meeting.

Last week, the government revealed its provisional estimation that the GDP growth in the current fiscal year will hit 7.05 percent.

When his attention was drawn to the World Bank's latest South Asia Economic Focus Spring 2016 report where it forecast 6.3 percent GDP growth in the current fiscal year, the minister said even the World Bank often does not believe in their own projections.

He said the World Bank, as a big organisation, has got many people giving many opinions many times on different issues, and they frequently change their projections.

In the South Asia Economic Focus Spring 2015, Kamal said, the World Bank had projected a 5.6 percent growth, but they now have accepted that the growth in the last fiscal year reached 6.5 percent.

Besides, in January this year, the multilateral credit agency forecast a 6.7 percent growth for Bangladesh for the current year, which now they have curtailed it to 6.3 percent.

About the world bank's apprehension that the low private section consumption, slow pace in ADP implementation alongside shortfall in revenue collection will slow down the GDP growth, he said the revenue collection growth of 14 percent during this July-February period would be enough to push the GDP growth this year to over 7 percent.

He claimed that all the indicators of the macro economy are in the positive direction while the inward remittance inflow is likely to cross $ 15 billion in this year.

Kamal hoped that the RADP implementation rate will be around 93-95 percent at the end of this year with around Tk 10,000-12,000 more expenditure than the previous fiscal year.

Asked whether the World Bank has downgraded their assessment over Bangladesh, the Planning Minister replied in the negative saying that they have just made their projection.

About BNP's fear about achieving the 7.05 percent GDP growth, he refused to make comment saying, ‘Was there any sign of the country’s existence when BNP was in power?’