Bangladesh's Economy Shows Promising Turnaround: Dr. Salehuddin

Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed today said that the economy of the country has made a good turnaround over the last one year of the interim government from the verge of falling into a ditch. "To see the matter, you will need inner sight apart from normal eyesight. This is not about commenting on something from the surface level, there happened many things over the months," he said. The Finance Adviser made such remarks while responding to questions of reporters after chairing two separate meetings on the Advisers Council Committee on Economic Affairs and Advisers Council Committee on Government Purchase held at Bangladesh Secretariat today. He said that before the interim government assumed responsibility following the mass uprising last year, there were precarious situations in the economic sector, which was a challenge. "But, now it has come to a more comfortable position."

The Finance Adviser acknowledged that definitely there are some challenges in the future like containing inflation further, employment generation, and energy. He said the most challenging matter is to boost the confidence of the business people so that some momentum could be infused there which was downward in the past. Regarding the matter of inflation, he said that it has been coming down at a level of relief. "It will take some more time, this is not a matter of gripping the cart tightly and reducing the rate within a day. It's reducing, but the non-food inflation still remains as a challenge," he said. When asked about Bangladesh's successful tariff negotiations with the USA, the former Bangladesh Bank governor said that the rate was reduced from 35 percent to 20 percent. "This is not bad, if you compare with other countries then we can say Bangladesh is not in a bad position," he added.

He also said that knitwear factories of the country will be able to adjust the matter quickly while the woven factories have to face some challenges due to their lack of backward linkage system. "The agreement (tariff) is yet to be signed. We will see in which areas we need to reduce duties, surely we will see that," he continued. Regarding the much-talked-about reforms by the interim government, the Finance Adviser said this government has inducted some short-term reforms in the financial sector while it will take time for mid-term and long-term reforms. He said the Bangladesh Bank has prepared a roadmap for the banking sector which needs time. "Capital market is also trying to make some reforms, maybe some advancements will be there," he added. Dr Salehuddin also said that the government would make some amendments in the NBR Ordinance that will divide the NBR into Revenue Policy Division and Revenue Management Division. "My target is, I will definitely do something by December," he said. The Finance Adviser also said that the government is taking projects which are very much relevant and which can be implemented quickly.