Governor of Bangladesh Bank (BB) Fazle Kabir said on Saturday the economy fell into a challenge for Covid-19 pandemic but with the power of the resilient private sector of Bangladesh the economy is performing relatively well in recent past.
“Our GDP and total size of the economy have increased which is a good sign and reflects that we are on board,”he said.
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The government has declared a stimulus package at the right time and there are no liquidity shortages in banks at the inception of the pandemic period to this moment, Kabir said.
The BB governor came up with remarks while addressing as the chief guest in a webinar organized by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) on “Bi-annual Economic State and Future outlook of Bangladesh Economy: Private Sector Perspective” held on Saturday.
FBCCI President Md. Jashim Uddin joined the program as the special guest. DCCI President Rizwan Rahman presented the keynote paper at the webinar.
“The BB is closely monitoring the inflationary pressure on the economy. In terms of export diversification, he also reiterated that our light engineering, jute, leather, ICT and pharmaceutical sectors are doing better beside the RMG sector,” he added.
“We need to nurture these sectors for better diversification considering the export competitiveness, the EDF facility has been extended,” he said.
He also hoped that a stable economy would help attract more FDI, moreover few of the mega projects will be accomplished soon and that will help expedite FDI inflow, he mentioned.
Kabir also urged for enhancing soft and hard skills development of manpower considering the challenge of LDC upgradation.
The DCCI President Rizwan Rahman said the world is still struggling with the Covid-19, but having these challenges, Bangladesh’s economic progress is quite satisfactory during the first half of FY22, despite there are many challenges like inflation, lack of export diversification, policy support, skill shortages, poor logistic infrastructure, supply chain constraints.
Rizwan said the country still could not come out of the shackle of Covid 19 pandemic, inflation rate rose to 6.05 percent in December in view of the rise in fuel cost in the international market.
He suggested giving loan facilities to the importers of daily essentials and to cut duty on commodities imports to tackle the inflation.
Rizwan also suggested compensating the agro-businesses with lower transportation and fuel cost.
Md. Jashim Uddin, President, FBCCI said that prices of commodities in the international market increased. In that case, the cost of import and duty also increased. But the economy is yet to be recovered, he said.
Naser Ezaz Bijoy, President, FICCI said the real estate sector is a large sector which has positive multifarious implications to other related sectors.
If we can securitize the portfolio issuing bonds then we will be able reduce the rate of defaults, he added.
Md. Saiful Islam, President, MCCI said Bangladesh is a success story in the South Asia due to having its economic strength.
Dr. Zaidi Sattar, Chairman, PRI said Bangladesh is a highly integrated market. Bangladesh’s economy is growing and the size of GDP is quite big. He stressed on the development of the domestic market.