The economic growth target for fiscal 2017-18 has been set at 7.4 percent, as the government looks to leverage the low inflation rate and the strong momentum generated this year from the political calm.

“Our GDP growth target for the current fiscal year is 7.2 percent. We have achieved it,” Finance Minister AMA Muhith told reporters yesterday after a meeting of the fiscal coordination council and resources committee, where the targets for the upcoming budget were fixed.

The World Bank, however, disputed Muhith's proclamation.

The Washington-based multilateral lender yesterday said the Bangladesh economy will grow at 6.8 percent in fiscal 2016-17 and 6.4 percent the following year.

Earlier, the Asian Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund said the economic growth this year would be below 7 percent.

At yesterday's meeting, the inflation target for next fiscal year was set at 5.4 percent, down from current year's target of 5.8 percent.

As of February, inflation stood at 5.31 percent.

The meeting of the fiscal coordination committee has fixed a preliminary size of the budget at Tk 400,267 crore.

As per the medium-term budgetary framework, the size of the next budget should be about Tk 390,000 crore, so the Tk 400,000 crore figure is not overly ambitious.

But the figure may see adjustments before the finance minister unveils it in June, said an official of the finance ministry.

The size of the current year's budget is Tk 340,605 crore, but it is going to be downsized to less than Tk 310,000 crore in the revised budget to be announced in June, the official added.

The annual development programme will be Tk 150,000 crore-Tk 153,000 crore in fiscal 2017-18, up from current year's Tk 119,000 crore.

The revenue collection target for next fiscal year has been set at Tk 263,000 crore, of which Tk 236,000 crore will come from the National Board of Revenue.

The NBR's target for this fiscal year is Tk 180,000 crore.

In the first eight months of the fiscal year, the NBR's collection grew around 20 percent, which is still satisfactory considering the historical context.

But as per the target set at the beginning of fiscal 2016-17, the growth should be 43.89 percent from previous year's actual collection.

Budget deficit may be fixed at a close vicinity of 6 percent of GDP in 2017-18, breaking out from years-long practice to keep it within 5 percent.

In the last several years the budget was diligently prepared such that the deficit stayed within 5 percent, but, in the course of the fiscal year the deficit would come to below 4 percent.

“We have kept the deficit at a higher level. However, it might not be of any benefit as it will go down towards the end of the fiscal year,” Muhith said, adding that the deficit might be fixed at 5.4 percent for fiscal 2016-17.