The head of the US intelligence agency, Tulsi Gabbard, recently made a statement, to which Bangladesh’s Finance Adviser, Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, responded by saying that it would not impact Bangladesh’s economy in terms of multilateral or bilateral relations.
He made this comment after a meeting of the Government Procurement Advisory Committee at the Secretariat on Tuesday, March 18, when asked by reporters.
When asked whether the congestion at the Chittagong port had been reduced, Salehuddin Ahmed confirmed, “Yes, the congestion for clearing goods has decreased.”
Regarding a recent article by a journalist from The Guardian, who visited Bangladesh and wrote that the country is on the edge of a ditch, the Finance Adviser responded, “We were on the brink, but now we have returned from that brink.” When asked why the journalist wrote such a thing, he added, “They write a lot of things. Does everyone from outside know everything? They write with their own perspectives and opinions.”
When questioned about the state of the economy, Salehuddin Ahmed said, “I know what’s going on inside the economy. There is no reason to be so pessimistic.”
In response to a question about Bangladesh’s graduation from the LDC (Least Developed Country) status, he said, “We have already adopted a smooth transition strategy for 2026. By ‘smooth,’ I mean not a sudden drop, like how a plane descends slowly. We are already working on it.”