Criticising the World Bank, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday said the government’s gross domestic product (GDP) figures, provided by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, was in no way ‘manufactured’.

The minister came up the remarks while speaking as chief guest at a roundtable discussion on the country’s infrastructure, jointly organised by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) and BIDA and World Bank Group, at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel.

Mustafa Kamal said the BBS projection of 7.24 percent GDP growth for the outgoing 2016-17 fiscal is correct. 

“End of the day I’m winner. Because I know my number, I know myself, and I strongly believe my department, my minister.

He also said those who say that the 7.24 percent growth figure is not correct do not know the right information behind the figure.

World Bank Bangladesh office lead economist Zahid Hussain, on May 14, said “the growth will be sustained at 6.8 percent in FY2017. Bangladesh economy is performing well in all indicators except three -- export, remittance and import of industrial raw materials --compared to the previous fiscal.”

President of DCCI Abul Kasem Khan delivered the welcome address at the round-table discussion.

Experts and specialists, investors, regulators, policy planners, economists, bankers and development partners, among others, discussed the session.