Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H. Mansur delivered a blunt message at the 2025 Investment Dialogue at BIDA on Thursday cut the extortion along supply chains and transport routes, and inflation can drop below 5 per cent. That threshold, he said, is the central bank's "non-negotiable" target.
Mansur didn't mince words. Systemic extortion, he said, is inflating costs at every stage of the market. "Remove the pressure, and prices will cool." But without tougher law-and-order action and a serious clampdown on corruption, he warned, 5 percent inflation will remain out of reach.
The governor said inflation is already edging downward, thanks to a firm monetary stance - and he pledged to keep it tight.
Easing policy too soon, he cautioned, would rattle both the exchange rate and the money market. Once inflation is under control, the central bank will gradually cut the policy rate to 8-9 percent and steer lending rates toward 10-11 percent.
On industry stability, Mansur was categorical "Only Beximco Textiles collapsed - and that was due to structural weakness." All other major industries, he insisted, have been kept running. Citing SS Power, he said the government would not shut down production "for the wrongdoing of one person."
He noted that while some major owners, such as those of S Alam and Summit, are abroad, their industries remain operational because the economy cannot afford mass closures. LC approvals, he said, were granted strictly to keep factories alive - not to reward owners. "Institutions are national assets. People earn their livelihoods through them. Every decision we took was legal and aimed at keeping production running."
Mansur said the Anti-Corruption Commission is now probing fraud, money laundering, and loan irregularities after the August uprising that brought down the previous government. Bank accounts have been frozen, assets blocked, and ownership transfers stopped - yet factories remain operational to shield the economy.
He stressed that controlled credit growth and precise liquidity management are central to sustaining disinflation. By aligning lending with real economic activity and squeezing speculative demand, the central bank hopes to lock in a steady decline in prices. Global commodity shifts, supply-chain adjustments, and improving domestic production are already showing up in lower cost pressures.
The central bank also forecasts a stabilizing external sector as import demand normalizes and remittances increasingly flow through formal channels. Mansur added that legal reforms are underway to shut down long-term loan manipulation and speed up recovery, preventing borrowers from gaming the system.
