Finance and planning minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury on Monday said that plans were under way to import around 4,000 megawatts of new power through the regional grid in India.

He also said that people creating obstacles to ease of doing business should be rendered inactive to ensure the deregulation on way to fostering the country’s progress on economy, health, and education.

He was speaking at a pre-budget discussion organised by the vernacular business daily Bonik Barta in the city.

Along with the planned import, some 2,000MW power from the country’s first nuclear power plant in Ishwardi is in the calculation for an uninterrupted supply, added the minister.

Power-starved Bangladesh has already imported a small amount of power from Nepal and a significant amount from India, including the controversial Adani  Power Limited, through the regional grid.

Noting that the new government is preparing separate policies on power, natural gas, and coal, the minister said that the government would focus on uninterrupted power and energy supply and ensure high-speed internet to spur the economic activities using digital devices.

He regretted that the government had inherited an economy characterised by a downturn and plagued with over-power generation capacity, high unemployment, low private investment and mismanagement in the banking sector.

Describing that the government has been under tremendous pressure following triangular challenges—low revenue, growing geo-political conflict, and tariff war — ahead of the next national budget, he said.

The government is also facing differences of opinion with multilateral lenders over lending programmes.

He expected that the multilateral lenders would understand the electoral pledges of the newly government.

The practice of seeking speed money is everywhere, said a dejected minister, adding that deregulation was the most suitable option to check the menace.

The pre-budget discussion was attended by high government officials and representatives of leading businesses.