Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Saturday observed that implementation and monitoring of the targets set in the monetary policy for the next six months of the fiscal year would be the major challenge for the Bangladesh Bank. Reducing inflation to 7.5 per cent, ensuring credit flow to actual productive private sector, controlling consumers’ credit, increasing internal investment and increasing the management efficiency of state-owned banks will also be challenges for the central bank in implementing the monetary policy, DCCI said in a statement.
Stabilising the capital market would be another challenge, it added. Terming the MPS investment and economy-friendly, DCCI said that it could be successful through limiting government borrowing from banks, controlling syndication in business and ensuring political stability.
The statement said that BB needed to take necessary steps to restore public confidence in the banking sector and reduce the interest rate as soon as possible. ‘If the high interest rate on bank loan is not reduced soon, it would hamper private sector financing and industrialisation,’ it read.
As a result, production and employment would be hampered and achieving the GDP growth target would be difficult for the government, said the statement.
It said that there was an indication in the monetary policy about the coordination among the monetary policy, fiscal policy and financial institutions, which will pave the way for a balanced economy.
The trade body also pointed out some positive aspects of the policy, including target to increase credit growth in private sector, credit flow to small and medium enterprises, target to reduce government borrowing from the banks, reducing the rate of repo and reverse repo, steps to reduce inflation to 7.5 per cent, keeping the value of Taka stable against the US dollar and reducing bank interest rate.
-With New Age input
