Staff Correspondent

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali today said that the country’s economy is now improving while the people of the country are doing fine and in good condition.

“Ask the people of the country. I think they are doing well,” the Finance Minister said today in response to a query from a journalist regarding the economic condition of the country.

He also said that the prices of goods in the market are declining and those would decline further.

“Some 50,000 metric tons of onion is coming from India. Once such consignments of onion arrive, the prices will fall even more," he added.

Ali also mentioned that getting a new state minister in his ministry would be beneficial.

“The pace of work in the Ministry of Finance will increase,” said the finance minister.

Meanwhile, State Minister for Finance Waseqa Ayesha Khan, after joining her office today, said she would work to build a corruption-free economic system in Bangladesh which would eventually contribute towards building a prosperous country.

Waseqa said this was her first day at the Ministry of Finance in n capacity and she also felt proud to start her new assignment in the Month of Independence (March).

“It’s very much important to work at the Ministry of Finance as this Ministry is involved in almost all affairs of the country. Finance is also important in all matters of the global community….so, right at this moment, it’s very tough to express my feelings. I still have a lot to learn,” she added.

She vowed to deliver her maximum efforts to supplement the Prime Minister’s bid to build a prosperous and ‘Smart Bangladesh’ imbued with the spirit and ideology of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Asked about her priorities, she said that priority is not a static thing as the priorities of every ministry and division often change in line with the changing context.

In this regard, Waseqa said she would set her priority in consultation with the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister after taking briefs from the officials concerned.