2024-09-29 20:27:30
President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Ashraf Ahmed said that it is necessary to reform the scope of work of various government agencies related to business and trade. If the environment of trust develops, local and international investment in the country will expand.
On Saturday (September 28) DCCI organized ‘Bi-Annual Review of Bangladesh Economy (January-June, 2024); He said these things while presenting the main article in the seminar titled ‘Prekshit Private Sector’.
Eminent economist and former director general of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS). Khan Ahmed Syed Murshid, Professor of Development Studies Department of Dhaka University and Executive Director of Rapid. Abu Yusuf and Bangladesh Bank Director (Research). Md. Salim Al Mamun discussed in the seminar.
The president of DCCI laid emphasis on strengthening law and order in industrial areas and restoring the confidence of entrepreneurs in order to continue exports through uninterrupted production of products.
In the original article he discussed the impact of global economy on the economy of Bangladesh, implementation status of budget and monetary policy, inflation, private investment, international trade, agriculture and agro-processing, ready-made garments, leather and leather products, pharmaceutical industry, CMSME, power and energy, post-transition from LDCs. He shed light on the challenges and the financial sector in detail.
Ashraf Ahmed said that the central bank has taken initiatives to control high interest rates and currency exchange to deal with the existing situation. However, this decision needs to be reconsidered considering the situation of declining inflation in the country.
The president of DCCI said that by ensuring the necessary fuel supply to our industrial factories, we should continue to increase the production of products and export. The complications related to balance of payments should be resolved soon.
He said, high interest rates, high exchange rates, rising cost of business capital are shrinking the effective rate of real credit flow to the CMSME sector. Still, there is no alternative to increasing the flow of credit to the overall development of the country’s economy, especially to the CMSME sector.
DCCI President proposed to relax contractionary monetary policy if inflation is bearable. He said that if the rate of tax collection increases, it will also increase the ability of the government to pay interest on the loans taken.
Dr. Khan Ahmed Syed Murshid said, we have many non-economic challenges. Therefore, trust in the private sector should be increased by increasing transparency and accountability.
He said, we must not only focus on increasing GDP growth; It is time to focus on good governance, improvement of law and order situation, health and education. In particular, pricing policies should be formulated and implemented to ensure uninterrupted fuel supply to industries.
Dr. Abu Yusuf said, there is no substitute for sector-wise statistics in formulating effective policies, where we are deficient. Time has come to ensure transparency and accountability of economic statistics.
Dr. Md. Salim Al Mamun said that one of the components of the ongoing reform program is the reform of the financial sector. The participation of the private sector must be ensured.
He said that the central bank is following a contractionary monetary policy to save the low-income people of the country from the effects of inflation. If the inflation comes under some control then the flow of money will increase again and the private sector will benefit, for a short time the private sector will have to be patient.