Economy to keep facing challenges, though exports imports improved in Jan-Mar: MCCI
“The Bangladesh economy is trying to overcome the difficulty due to the present conflicting world scenario. Therefore, the performances of the selected economic indicators are mixed,” said the MCCI in its review.
Though the country's economy has shown signs of improvement in the January-March period with an increase in exports and imports, a lot of other challenges remain, said the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka (MCCI).
The chamber in its Review of Economic Situation in Bangladesh for the January-March quarter of 2024 identified some major challenges for the economy, which includes a slowdown in external demand, weak remittance inflow, shortfall in revenue collection, slow public expenditure and rise in inflation.
Some of the other challenges identified were depreciation of the Taka, a decline in foreign exchange reserves, unemployment situation and low investment in the recent months.
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"The Bangladesh economy is trying to overcome the difficulty due to the present conflicting world scenario. Therefore, the performances of the selected economic indicators are mixed," said the MCCI in its review.
Though exports might see some decrease due to Eid holidays, the chamber hoped for an increase in both imports and remittances in the April-June quarter.
Inflation, however, might rise slowly in the months of May and June following a decline in April, said the MCCI in its forecast.
The government needs to address the impediments to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) to the country in order to ensure the economic development, the MCCI prescribed, adding that the gross FDI inflow decreased by 4.92% year-on-year to $3,211 million in the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
Stating that Bangladesh's FDI inflow is low compared to that of many other countries at a similar level of development, the MCCI noted that despite the nation's advantageous low labour costs, foreign investors hesitate to make fresh investments because of the underdeveloped infrastructure, energy issues, lack of consistency in policy and regulatory frameworks, scarcity of industrial land, corruption, and non-transparent and uneven application of rules and regulations.
