Muhith pooh-poohs gas export talks

Dhaka, June 18 (bdnews24.com) ? Finance minister A M A Muhith has termed the gas export talks following the deal with a US company 'utterly nonsense'.

"We feel very happy that we could sign agreement with ConocoPhillips for the Bay," Muhith said on Saturday at a monthly luncheon of the Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) at the city's Sonargaon Hotel.

"We have maritime border disputes with Myanmar and India, but we need to lift gas from the sea. ConocoPhillips will do the job," he said.

"They will be bound to sell us the oil-gas extracted from the sea," the finance minister said, "So, the idea that gas will be exported is utterly nonsense," he said.

"Calling hartal over the deal is also nonsense," he added.

A production-sharing contract (PSC) deal was signed between the government and ConocoPhillips on Thursday, allowing the company start lifting gas from two blocks in the Bay of Bengal.

The National Committee on Protection of Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources, Power and Ports has called a half-day hartal in Dhaka for July 3, demanding cancellation of the deal.

BLACK MONEY

In reply to a businessman's question whether people would be discouraged to pay taxes if they are given the chance to whiten black money, Muhith said, "I am against whitening black money."

"We've given chance to whiten black money, as it was seen in a study that 48 percent money of the economy is black," he said.

"But the move was not successful?only a little black money was whitened," he added.

The finance minister his budget speech for 2011-12 on June 9 proposed to whiten black money in the next financial year by slapping only 10 percent tax on investment in government treasury.

About the next years' budget proposals, he Muhith said, "The opposition and the media are very much concerned about the proposed budget, saying it is with a large deficit, high ambition and high growth rate."

"The Tk 1.6-trillion budget is not highly ambitious as our economy and market are expanding," he said.

"A deficit of five percent is natural. The budgets in past few years also had similar deficits," he added.

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