"Military dictators had grabbed state power frequently in the past...once the state power was in the cantonment... As a result, there was no (required) pace in development," she said.

The Prime Minister said this while addressing the National Economic Council meeting virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban.

Also read: 8th Five Year Plan: COVID-19 forces govt to alter its approach

The meeting approved the 8th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025).

As the state power came back to the mass people, they are now enjoying their democratic rights fully, Sheikh Hasina said.

"General people are getting the benefits... rural people are getting the benefits...that’s the main thing," she said.

Hasina said she believes that the 8th Five-Year Plan will be very much effective to attain the desired development of the country.

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In this connection, she mentioned that the government is implementing the UN-formulated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). "But coronavirus has created a problem, this is not for us alone, it’s for the whole world."

Hasina said the government has been able to reduce the poverty rate significantly, while the GDP has been great enabling Bangladesh to fulfil the all criteria to emerge as a developing one. "But coronavirus stalled everything."

The Prime Minister said when the entire world got stalled completely, Bangladesh had been able to carry on its economic advancement -- at least on a limited scale. "Maybe we couldn’t achieve the fixed goals."

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Hasina said the GDP target for Bangladesh was 8.2% for the last fiscal but there was a pandemic across the and the global economy had come to a standstill. “As in the global village, Bangladesh also faced some problems.”

The PM went on saying: "Taking risks, all are working in their respective fields. As a result, we’ve been able to maintain the pace of advancement."

She expressed her gratitude to the people of the country for electing her government for the third consecutive time and for that it has been able to take long-term development plans for the country.

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Hasina said the government has taken Five-Year plans -- Vision 2021 and Vision 2041 apart from Delta Plan 2100.

"To execute these visions and plans what we need is the Five-Year plans. We’ve implemented the 6th and 7th Five-Year plans, we’re taking the 8th Five-Year Plan today, we’ll take ahead the development phase by phase for the Vision 2041," she said.

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By the time, she mentioned, the government will require to implement more Five-Year plans.

"We’ll be able to build Bangladesh as a developed and prosperous country if the future governments, no matter whether we’ll be there in power, formulate these Five-Year plans," she said.