The government will formulate an 'Informal Industrial Policy soon, considering the ever increasing contribution of informal industry sector to the country's national economy and to ensure its sustainable exploration. Sources said a body titled 'Informal Sector Industrial Skill Development Council' (ISISC) is working for drafting the Policy Guideline for the Informal Sector Industries and it will be submitted to the Ministry of Industries by this June. Industries Ministry will finalize the policy based on the draft.
Data suggest that at least 87 percent of the country's workforces is engaged in the informal sector industries. Every year at least 20 lakhs of people are entering into the job market. About 80 percent of them are employed in informal sector industries. ISISC has been implementing a project styled ' Strengthening the Capacity of ISISC to formulate draft policy guidelines for informal sector development' in support with International Labor Organisation (ILO) aiming to formulate an effective policy guideline.
Industry Ministry sources said the necessity of formulating a policy for the informal sector industry was felt for long. Under the project ISISC is organising divisional workshop with the stakeholders in Khulna and Chottogram. Informal sectors constitute the dominant economic activities in Bangladesh as far as their contribution to the GDP and employment are concerned.
Experts said that despite having problems of both workers and entrepreneurs in the informal sector industry, the issue was not considered in the national industrial policy as a result the sustainable exploration of informal sector industry and economy is being hampered. They said finalizing the informal sector industry policy is necessary and it should be so promptly considering its contribution in employment generation and also in the Gross National Production (GNP), it will be possible to attain the targeted goal of economic progress by utilizing the huge potentials of the informal sector industry.
A study report suggest that around 80 per cent of the labour force in Bangladesh works in the informal economy and that the contribution of the informal sector to the GDP is around 64 per cent. The major informal sector in Bangladesh is the agricultural sector. In addition, a large number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and micro enterprises fall into the category of the informal sector.
The growth in the formal sector leads to a growth in the informal sector as well, and that there are positive impacts on household welfare and poverty. Analysts find the major driving forces behind the growth in the informal sector would be the rise in the household demand for informal sector goods and services as well as the rise in demand for intermediate inputs.
