Chief Adviser of the interim government Prof Muhammad Yunus has sought businessmen’s cooperation in the country’s new voyage as his government is committed to improving the business environment through effective reforms.
“Like other countries in the world, Bangladesh has also some problems. But I see an emerging Bangladesh that is committed to upholding freedom and justice. We are firm to improve our business environment through multipronged reforms that we have initiated,” he said.
“I am here to hear from you and open to suggestions to improve our investment environment. We seek your partnership in this new journey,” he stressed.
Yunus made the remarks at the “US-Bangladesh Industry Roundtable” organised by the US-Bangladesh Business Council at the Westin New York Grand Central in New York City on Thursday (local time).
He said his interim government has started working on creating an environment where business can flourish and entrepreneurs can thrive.
Any business needs stability, predictability and a corruption-free environment, so a key priority of his government following the restoration of the law and order situation is to undertake deeper economic and financial reforms, he said.
A committee of experts is working on publishing a white paper that would establish the benchmark of the economy and encourage reforms by the end of December, Yunus said.
“Surely you are aware of why it is critical for us to undertake significant economic reforms as corruption and systemic irregularities eroded fiscal and monetary discipline,” he said.
“In around a month’s time, we could significantly reduce revenue shortfalls and make taka stable. Bangladesh Bank has stopped printing money. Instead, we are using non-inflationary measures to tackle the deficit,” he added.
Turning to different development projects taken by the previous government, he said politically motivated unproductive development projects have been dropped.
“Depending on the stage of implementation, we are evaluating opportunities for cost savings in the remaining work and considering cancellation of non-viable projects,” Yunus said.
He continued, “We are charting reform paths to address the inherent weaknesses in the revenue sector. Our reform measures are already acknowledged. Over the past two days, World Bank president, USAID administrator and [US] President Biden acknowledged these and mentioned rolling out critical financial and non-financial support.”
The chief adviser said the government is resorting to the borrowing windows of institutional and bilateral lenders for a quick injection of foreign currency.
“The currency regime has been made more market-driven by introducing a crawling peg. The currency market is already showing signs of stability,” he said.
He said the central bank has doubled the deposit insurance, which will protect 90 per cent of the depositors in case of any bankruptcy, while the governor has already formed a task force on banking sector reform with ADB’s support.
“None of our efforts will succeed if we can’t contain corruption. We have formed a commission to restructure our anti-corruption regime. Such efforts will not be sustained unless we have an accountable political system,” he added.
“We have, therefore, commenced reforming the electoral system, law enforcement agencies and judiciary and even police. Supporting these changes will require substantive changes in the country’s constitution. We have started working on that as well,” Yunus said.
He said the government intends to create a more enabling business and investment-friendly environment where innovation can thrive, young professionals can turn into entrepreneurs, and businesses can operate efficiently.
“We are also working on customs digitalisation, strengthening IP, copyright and trademark regime, restructuring capital market. We are open to suggestions from any of you to improve our business environment,” he said.
Noting that the United States has long been a key economic and development partner for Bangladesh, Yunus said the US is Bangladesh’s number one single-country export destination and the top source of FDI but the trade basket is unusually narrow.
Atul Keshap, president of the US-Bangladesh Business Council, also spoke at the event.
