Structural reforms needed to meet post LDC challenges: DCCI Prez

President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Taskeen Ahmed said there is no alternative to a radical reform and modernization of existing framework related to trade and investment.

The reform must include import-export policy, revenue structure, financial management, logistic policy, national budget and monetary policy to address the challenges of Bangladesh's post-LDC transition.

Taskeen Ahmed made this observation at a meeting with the Commerce Adviser to the interim government Sk. Bashir Uddin in his secretariat office on Sunday, says a press release.
Mentioning that Bangladesh could not take adequate preparations for the post-LDC challenges due to Covid pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war, unrest in the Middle East and the political instability in the country in 2024, he suggested to delay the graduation process to take all out preparations.

He said once the country's graduation is achieved Bangladesh will lose a lot of trade preference in international market. He said it is necessary to formulate a "smooth transition strategy" for proper implementation based on a series of public-private dialogue.

Besides, he said the government has to provide the necessary support to the private sector to maintain the flow of investment by addressing all the challenges even after the LDC graduation.

Taskeen Ahmed also said the recent NBR initiatives to increase VAT, supplementary duty, excise duty and taxes on more than a hundred products have already caused concern among the mass people and the business community.

Its implementation, he said in the current economic situation will put more pressure on the lives of the common people by increasing inflation, cost of doing businesses and might hinder both local and foreign investment.

Although the government has said it would reconsider the proposed tariff hike on several sectors, the DCCI president said the move to increase VAT and tax in the current situation is not acceptable especially ahead of upcoming Ramadan.

Taskeen Ahmed later emphasized on strengthening the market monitoring activities to remove the existing irregularities in the supply chain of products to control inflation in the market.

He also said the Commerce Ministry should take strict measures to increase supply of essential products, monitor the market and ensure the availability of essential goods, especially during Ramadan.

Sk Bashir Uddin said the student led mass uprising in July, its subsequent impact on the overall law and order situation, unexpected flood in different parts of the country and supply chain interruptions last year have disrupted business locally.

But the overall situation has already improved and the government is working relentlessly to further improve the situation. He hoped the prices of essentials will remain stable during Ramadan.

He said the government is keeping its effort to keep rice price at a tolerable level which has increased recently adding it is important to expand tax collection and tax net to contain inflation and continue the overall development activities.

Mentioning that the country's private sector will face many challenges after the LDC graduation, the Commerce Adviser said reforms of trade and investment related policies is indispensible.

He stressed on revisiting the "Smooth Transition Strategy" (STS) to make it more inclusive and workable. He said to attract local and foreign investment relevant policy support and policy consistency must be maintained.

He said if local investors do not feel the investment environment is not friendly, in that case, why foreign investors would show interest to invest here.

Senior Vice President of DCCI Razeev H. Chowdhury and Vice President Md. Salem Sulaiman were also present at the meeting.