Country's leading economists, bankers and analysts expressed their reactions about economic situation in the New Year. They hoped that the country would achieve the economic growth in the New Year 2022.
They expressed the opinions that there have some challenges like managing inflation, health risk, exchange rate management and subsidy management but the government mechanism is there to handle them efficiently.
Dr MustafizurRahman, Distinguished Fellow of Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said, “We are entering the new year with a challenge. The main challenge I must say will be the health risk management, as because this will be directly linked to earning employment. Only 27 percent people have come under vaccination which needs to increase rapidly.”
“There are some other challenges like managing inflation, exchange rate management and subsidy management,” he added.
He also said we have come over the year 2021 through various challenges, although there have achievements in facing Covid-19 in the recent time as the export growth has now been 24 percent, import growth 50 percent, credit has increased, credit growth has grown from 7 to 9 percent.
“Bangladesh Economic Association president and eminent economist Dr Abul Barakat urged the youths to read classics.
He said, “We talk much about the classic but to me classic book is something that everybody praises but nobody reads.”
He also said that he believes in pessimism of intellect, optimism of the will.
He also mentioned that birth is not the beginning of everything and death is not the end of everything.
Ataur Rahman Prodhan, CEO & Managing Director of Sonali Bank Limited,
said, “I believe that a new dimension will come into the economic growth in the new year. We have already observed that export and import have increased in the recent months, remittance is fluctuating but import of capital machinery has also increased. So, everything shows that we are moving forward.”
The year we have just left behind was a bit challenging but the New Year will bring new hope and aspiration in the country's economic field, he said.
Facing adverse impact of Covid-19 we have now started turning around, although there have light fear of new variety of Omicron but we have learnt to face and carry on with our business in every field. So, we are hopeful of doing much better than that of the previous year, Prodhan added.
Md Shams-Ul-Alam, CEO & Managing Director of Agrani Bank Limited, said, “The government's stimulus package and its timely disbursement by the banks have played a big role in tackling the challenges in the business and economic field in the departing year.”
He also said, “We have passed the year 2021 facing various challenges. Now we are moving faster towards the positive growth”.
Credit growth has already increased and this is a good sign of achieving growth. Dynamism has also come back to the banking businesses in every sphere. So, we are hopeful of achieving the economic growth in the year 2022, he added.