The American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) has asked the government to focus on job creation to overcome the pandemic challenges.
At a discussion on the proposed budget, AmCham President Syed Ershad Ahmed said coronavirus appeared as a dangerous pandemic development, a devastating
catastrophe, which has been affecting the lives of mankind for over a year in multiple areas including business and overall economy.
“By now, a few thousands of people have lost their jobs and it seems that there are chances more people will be jobless and income less within the next few months. Moreover, thousands of fresh University graduates are awaiting to enter the job market,” he said on Sunday.
Planning Minister MA Mannan was present as the chief guest at the discussion titled “Budget and Business Outlook of Bangladesh During 2021 -2022: Strategic Priorities”.
The AmCham President highlighted the current economic context in Bangladesh and said the country has made phenomenal economic growth in the past few decades, maintained excellent GDP growth, per capita income stands at $2227, current forex reserve around $45 billion.
However, he said, “We could not achieve expected success in private investment and job creation in recent years.”
“We believe that major reasons behind it, our business unfriendly and inefficient bureaucracy, and lack of adequate logistics facilities. We did not focus on human capital development,” he said as the economic rise in Bangladesh has been driven by readymade garment exports, overseas workers remittance and agriculture sectors.
“The Pandemic is still far from over. We don’t find any reasons to ignore it. The proposed budget comes at a time when all educational institutions remain shut for nearly one and a half years,” he said.
“There is a concern over digital divide depriving a large number of children of education, which has been leading to child marriage, school dropouts and child labour. But the budget does not mention any measure to recover the learning loss and bring back students to schools, colleges and universities,” he said.
“Already a big gap between poor and rich people exists and it could widen further, we are afraid this may turn into an unbalanced society.”
Aftab Ul Islam, Director - Bangladesh Bank and former President – AmCham, Dr.
Atiur Rahman, Chairperson, Unnayan Shamannay and former Governor, Bangladesh Bank, Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur, Chairperson - BRAC Bank and Executive Director - PRI participated as the designated panelists at the discussion.
Considering the pandemic, the AmCham recommended focusing on crisis management, prioritising spending on health, education, enhancing social protection and building on the resilience demonstrated by the agriculture sector.
They also expected immediate support for MSMEs, government infrastructure developments, and air-ocean transport business that may face serious consequences days ahead to attract foreign direct investment (FDI).
AmCham expects appropriate governance and efficiency to ensure economic growth during this fiscal and 2041 vision of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in following years on key procedural matters in the proposed budget.
Those include health system, food security & agricultural, employment generation & poverty, education, NBR Reforms, contemporary customs law, Corporate & Withholding tax, e-Payment & e-TDS system, business tax evasion, digital payments incentives, effective supply chain and undisclosed wealth.
“The complexity of these challenges requires a multi-faceted policy response since the next phase of COVID-19 could be much more challenging,” AmCham said in a statement.
“It is crucial that the government, private sector, and concerned stakeholders in Bangladesh all step up and work together to adapt as best we can.”
AmCham promotes the economic relationships between Bangladesh and the United States of America.