Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman has said that the price of Dollar will come down soon as the government has taken various effective measures in this regard.
Besides, he emphasised on the diversification of export and reduction of import to stabilise the currency devaluating trend.
He said this while addressing the business luncheon meeting titled ‘Robi presents BMCCI Powerlunch’ organised by Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry on recent macroeconomic issues at a city hotel on Sunday.
He said, “The austerity measures initiated by the government and the central banks to rein in a bullish trend of import since the beginning of the second half of the last fiscal year are paying dividends as import costs have shrunk to USD 6 billion from over USD 8 billion a month.”
“Imports used to be USD8 billion a month, which came down to USD 7 billion last month and $6 billion this month. I believe our issues will be resolved pretty soon,” he said.
“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had taken proactive initiatives to protect the economy in pandemic times and she did the same when the dollar prices began skyrocketing. Alongside, Bangladesh Bank has taken initiatives to reduce imports at the right time,” he added.
“When this govt came to power, we had about 4000 MW capacity in electricity but now it has become 22000 MW that reveals our energy situation is potent. Although we are now in a better situation to attract FDI and I also admit that there is scope for development,” he said.
“The policy that makes the RMG sector a successful enterprise, we just have to replicate the policy and initiate it in other sectors,” he added.
Dr Selim Raihan, Executive Director of South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) presented the keynote speech on “Anatomy of a Macroeconomic Crisis”.
He said, “We shouldn’t call the situation as crisis rather we say it a challenge. Yes, our foreign exchange reserve is under some pressure but we need not compare it with other countries like Sri Lanka and Pakistan as our economic base is more stable and stronger than any other index compared to the world.”
President of FBCCI Md Jashim Uddin was present on the occasion as the special guest while Malaysian High commissioner to Bangladesh Haznah Md Hashim was the guest of honour. CEO of Robi Axiata Ltd and Vice President of BMCCI Riyaaz Rasheed gave the vote of thanks.
BMCCI President Syed Almas Kabir presided over the programme.
He said, “Today’s programme mainly focused on Macroeconomic analysis which refers to our current economic situation and informs us about the overall condition of our economy and a comprehensive view of the recent global financial crisis. The analysis was done within a framework and the factor related to our monetary and fiscal policy for crisis management.”