Bangladesh poised to prepare itself for post-pandemic recovery strategy

Bangladesh is poised to prepare itself for post-pandemic recovery strategy as well as keep up the momentum for the economy to return to double-digit growth amidst the unpredictability of the geopolitical environment, said American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) President Syed Ershad Ahmed in response to the government's proposed budget for FY23. 

"We recommend to tackle the twin challenges focusing on crisis management, prioritising expenditures and Foreign Exchange Reserve, inflation control, infrastructure developments to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) as well as private sector, policy assistance and continuity to emphasize on key procedural matters," Syed Ershad Ahmed said. 

Since food safety ensures a moderate inflation amidst global phenomenon, we expect Agriculture to receive more incentives ensuring unchanged food production. We would appreciate more price reduction of Agricultural equipment and hybrid vehicle," the AmCham president said. 

No significant economic growth is conceivable without a sustained Foreign Exchange reserve growth. Hence, instead of gross import ban, Bangladesh should speed up the foreign-funded projects' implementation and reconsider own funded projects having a sizeable import component, he added. 

"Since informal sector employs more than 85% of the workforce, the government should increase allocation to these sectors including women & yout hled micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), innovation and start-ups to counter poverty and income inequality by establishing a robust social safety net system." 

AmCham recommend that the National Board of Revenue (NBR) adopt automation in all possible levels at the same time to focus more on expanding Tax net.

"We suggest introducing the e-payment and e-TDS system and Digital Payments incentives to ensure accountability and transparency throughout the process," said Syed Ershad Ahmed. 

"We appreciate the recent reduction of corporate tax; however, request the government to continue gradual reduction days ahead and that AIT adjustment and VAT should be withdrawn from industrial raw materials' import to enhance domestic production capacity." 

Specific measures and corresponding budgetary allocation are essential for the climate resilience livelihood in geographically vulnerable areas. All projects going anti-environment and against the notion of green economy should be abandoned, AmCham president said. 

"Given that remittance, a major source of foreign currency, we are not in favor of the system of repatriation of embezzled wealth mixing in disguise with the earnings of hardworking taxpayers of Bangladesh," yed Ershad Ahmed said, adding "During pandemic and in recent days we observed how we are struggling to manage this sector. We strongly recommend effective modernisation managing all ports' operation and allowance of bonded warehouse facility for non-RMG exports too. AmCham believes budget execution is what matters in the end and that should be measured both for quantity and quality."