Low manufacturing, pvt investment growth affecting economy: Muhith
Economists on Saturday underscored ensuring political stability and rule of law and improving connectivity and skill for attaining sustainable economic growth at higher rate in the country. At different sessions of a seminar ‘Vision 2030: a framework for economic policy making and strategy formulation in a pluralistic democracy’, they said that the performance of Bangladesh economy was yet to remain at much below of potentiality and targets of the government.
They also urged the government to remove impediments and facilitate growth-driven environment for the private sectors so that they can lead the country towards a higher growth trajectory.
The government should adopt appropriate policies, strategies and institutional steps to achieve the growth prospects, they said.
At the opening session, finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said that less-than-expected growth in the manufacturing sector and the private investment were the two major impediments to acceleration of potential economic growth in the country.
Newly-formed Bangladesh Economists’ Forum organised the two-day seminar in the Radission Blu Water Garden Hotel in the capital.
Centre for Policy Dialogue chairman Rehman Sobhan emphasised on utilising capacity of Bangladeshi intellectuals coming back from abroad in the country’s development process.
‘Along with economic capital, intellectual capital is very much important for a country like Bangladesh,’ he said.
The government should be open in accepting opinions and ideas from different sectors regarding economic development despite differences in political ideologies, he said.
Former Bangladesh Economic Association president, Mohiuddin Alamgir, also one of the lead organisers of the BEF, said that the major sources of economic growth of the country would come from the export sector.
Identifying lack of transport infrastructure, energy and skilled human capital as the major constraints to achieving expected growth, he urged the government to remove the impediments and facilitate business environment for the private sector.
‘The government should develop multimodal economic corridor, promote sustainable energy, invest in skill development and make pro-sustainable and inclusive growth policies,’ he said.
World Bank Dhaka office lead economist Zahid Hussain said that the government should take steps to ensure political stability, enhance rule of law and encourage business community to increase productivity and efficiency.
‘Without ensuring these three issues, it will be impossible for the country to attain desired growth at higher rate like 6 per cent to 7 per cent,’ he said.
Policy Research Institute vice-chairman Sadiq Ahmed stressed on accumulating capital for public investment, facilitating the private investors, improving cost of doing business and business climate and developing human capital and infrastructure facilities to remain in the right way of higher growth.
The government should improve the situation related to rule of law as this is the most important issue for both investment and sustainable growth.
‘If citizen and investors feel uncomfortable and insecured under the existing rule of law, long-term investment and growth will suffer,’ he said.
Muhith said, ‘We are trying to promote large-scale manufacturing sector to accelerate GDP growth but it does not respond that well while the private investment is also lagging behind.’
He said that the government would also prioritise the two sectors to continue expected economic growth in coming days.
For attracting investment, adequate infrastructure facility is needed which the country lacks, he said.
Muhith also emphasise on developing skills to generate employment and diversification of agricultural products including high-value ones to achieve potential growth in the country.
Scarcity of land is also another challenge for future and the people should try to ensure maximum use of available land, he said.
‘We need a planning on proper land use as we are losing agricultural land and will continue to lose due to increasing construction work and unplanned human habitation,’ he said.
For effective land use planning, there is a necessity of decentralising the government system and the planning should start from the upazila level, he said.
He said that building planned habitation centres with modern services across the country could solve the problem of destruction of arable land.
Mashiur Rahman, economic adviser to the prime minister, said that land in the country had become scarce, so the government would have to increase investment in agriculture to improve productivity.
It will also have to pay special attention to investment and the way in which remittances are being spent, he said.
Michael Lipton, a research professor of Sussex University, presented the key note paper at the opening session.
Lipton said that Bangladesh needed to ensure increasing productivity in farming, reducing infertility and ensuring food safety for sustaining the economic and human development that the country achieved over the decades.
It should also ensure political stability and democratic process and improve business environment for further development, he said.
-With New Age input
