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Unnecessary large projects bar to combatting economic turmoil

Staff Correspondent
01 Feb 2023 00:00:33 | Update: 01 Feb 2023 00:04:17
Unnecessary large projects bar to combatting economic turmoil

The country’s businessmen think that taking a lesson from Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, the government should avoid undertaking unnecessary large projects during the ongoing recession in the country triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war.

In order to combat the economic strain, the businessmen also said that the country has to avoid taking bulk loans from a single lender, promote export diversification, and enhance private investment, according to the findings of a recent survey conducted by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in collaboration with World Economic Forum (WEF).

The business luminaries stated that the Russia-Ukraine war has immensely affected domestic businesses as they are facing increased production costs, difficulties in the international transaction as well as inflated prices of imported raw materials.

The findings of the survey, titled “Executive Opinion Survey (EOS)”, were revealed at a programme at CPD’s Dhanmondi office in the capital on Sunday.

According to the survey, 22.6 per cent of businessmen think that the government should explore more gas fields to address the ongoing gas shortage, 19.67 per cent stressed on stopping illegal gas supply, and 15.2 per cent suggested decreasing dependency on gas for electricity production.

Around 57.63 per cent of businessmen indicated that the ongoing inflation had affected their business.   

The country’s 59.5 per cent businessmen think that taking a lesson from Sri Lanka, the government should avoid undertaking unnecessary large projects; 44.6 per cent stressed promoting export diversification, 32.4 per cent suggested avoiding bulk loans from a single lender and 32.4 per cent stressed enhancing private investment, according to the survey.

The survey report said 64.6 per cent of respondents complained about the high level of corruption as the biggest obstacle to economic growth while 44.6 per cent complained about inadequate infrastructure as the second most problematic factor to do business in Bangladesh. Besides, 43.1 per cent of respondents termed limited access to financing and an inefficient bureaucracy as the third major problem for the economy.

The rising cost of production due to the Russia-Ukraine war has affected the businesses of 53.1 per cent of respondents, 32.8 per cent of businessmen faced difficulties due to the higher cost of imported raw materials and 37.5 per cent faced difficulty in international transactions.

Quoting the survey findings, the CPD said corruption, inadequate infrastructure, limited access to finance, and inefficient bureaucracy are the most problematic factors to do business in Bangladesh.

The obstacles to export diversification include a lack of initiatives and financing from the public sector, lack of an innovative breakthrough, lack of skills and talents, and lack of adequate infrastructure, the survey found.

The CPD study team included Research Director Dr Khondaler Golam Moazzem and programme associates Jebunnesa, and Chowdhury Fariha.

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