Finance Minister dismisses claim of 25m new poor

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday discounted a claim that the coronavirus pandemic has made up to 25 million new poor in the country. 

“I don’t believe that 2-2.5 crore people are now below the poverty line. I need to know from where some research organisations have collected the figure,” he told a reporter after attending a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase.

He said the government has its own research bodies and they are now working on it. “I will look into it when the government bodies complete their findings”.

He said no figure will be acceptable before the government’s own research bodies’ present their findings.