Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) President Ashraf Ahmed expresses optimism that Bangladesh possesses the capability to promptly overcome its current economic challenges, just as it has successfully done in the past.
“Bangladesh will reach its desired goals in overcoming its existing economic crisis, including high inflation, foreign reserve shortages, loan defaults, currency devaluation, stock market challenges, and balance of payment issues. Bangladesh has the experience of facing and overcoming such challenges in the past,” stated Ashraf Ahmed during a conference organized by DCCI at its head office in Dhaka on Saturday (20 January).
During the conference, Ashraf Ahmed delivered a PowerPoint presentation on the contemporary economic overview and shared the chamber's views with the media. Additionally, he highlighted DCCI’s plan for 2024 and presented detailed plans for 12 sectors of the economy.
Addressing the energy crisis, he emphasized, "The closure of manufacturing industries due to a lack of power and energy is undoubtedly very expensive and has a negative impact on economic capacity. As a business organization, we want this crisis to be resolved as soon as possible."
Discussing economic challenges, Ashraf Ahmed noted that both the private sector, the growth engine of the economy, and the public sector are working to address the economic challenges.
The DCCI president highlighted the need for export diversification, export factoring, inter-bank foreign currency exchange, and increased incentives for remittance inflow to boost the foreign exchange reserve.
Ashraf Ahmed advocated for the development of a long-term and time-bound sector-specific national investment roadmap for major industries such as Agriculture, Pharmaceuticals, Electronics, Light-engineering, IT & ITES, and the RMG industry to stimulate private investment.
