Importers suffer for agents Dispute

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Importers suffer for agents Dispute

A dispute between two companies over who would act as the local agent for Far Shipping, a Singaporean shipping company, has left many importers in a state of suspense over the delivery of their goods at the Chittagong Port.

Sea Marine Shipping Lines, a subsidiary of SHR Group, had been acting as the local agent of Far Shipping since 2014 but the contract expired on January 31. Far Shipping then appointed Marco Shipping, a concern of Karnaphuli Group, as its local agent. But for formal handover, a joint declaration letter needed to be signed by both the local agencies, which Sea Marine Line has refused to do so. The Chittagong Customs House has sent letters to both the agencies to sit down in a meeting to come up with a solution, according to its deputy commissioner Abdur Rashid Miah. But Sea Marine has refused to do that either. Golam Moinuddin, director of marketing of Sea Marine Line, said Far Shipping has dues. “Without clearing our dues, Far Shipping cannot assign any other local agent — it is not legal.”

The deadlock has left 5 vessels of Far Shipping Lines ready for 5-18 days to get berth at the Chittagong Port, which is longer than the common wait time of 3-4 days. The vessels were carrying about 3,000 containers of goods of more than four hundred importers which includes Unilever, Pran-RFL, Square, Meghna, Beximco, Navana, GPH, Maf Shoes, Great Wall Ceramics, Abul Khair Group, PHP Family, Partex and Berger Paints.

Seeing the restlessness of the importers, the Chittagong Customs House gave Marco Shipping the brief allow to take care of Far Shipping’s vessels till February 28. Subsequently, 4 ships were given berth; they completed offloading the containers on Thursday. One of the ships is nonetheless waiting at the outer anchorage due to the fact that February 17. “The situation will aggravate if a permanent solution does not come up soon,” stated Jasim Ahmed, government director of Maf Shoes, which suffered for the delay. two two Azmir Hossain Chowdhury, assistant common supervisor of Marco Shipping, said he hopes the authorities would solve the stalemate.

85pc female RMG workers face verbal abuse: survey

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Worker Safety Forum convener Hameeda Hossain speaks at a report launching programme held at the Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka on Monday. Karmojibi Nari president Pratima Paul Majumder, Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies executive director Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, National Garment Workers Federation president Amirul Haque Amin and Rajshahi University professor Jakir Hossain were present, among others. — New Age photo

 

85pc female RMG workers face verbal abuse: survey

Almost 85 per cent of female workers in the readymade garment sector face verbal harassment in their workplace, according to a report launched Monday.
The watch report showed 84.7 per cent of female workers in the RMG factories faced verbal harassment including scolding and use of slang by their superiors, while 71.3 per cent of female workers experienced mental harassment at their workplace.
Workers complained that the authorities scolded them regularly and very often they had to hear slang used indicating their parents and threat of expulsion from job, the report said.
Karmojibi Nari and CARE Bangladesh jointly commissioned the report titled ‘State of Rights Implementation of Women Ready-Made Garment Workers’. Rajshahi University professor Jakir Hossain conducted the study.
‘Majority of the workers have brought the allegation that they are harassed mostly by the supervisors — physical (52 per cent) and verbal (70 per cent) — adding the fact that line-chief, floor in charge, and production managers also often harass them,’ the watch report said. The report also showed that 20 per cent of female workers experienced physical harassment, while 12.7 per cent of them faced sexual harassment at their workplace.
The most common physical and sexual harassment was slap and push on different parts of their body and unwanted touch in their body and offering illicit love affairs, it said. At a meeting held to share the findings of the watch report at the Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka, Jakir Hossain said that 150 workers were selected from Dhaka and Gazipur for the interview and the quantitative approach and employed survey method had been adopted for conducting the study.
Karmojibi Nari president Pratima Paul Majumder presided over the event while Worker Safety Forum convener Hameeda Hossain attended as chief guest.
According to the study, many garment workers are deprived of their lawful rights related to employment contracts like appointment letter, identity card, pay slip, service book and attendance card.
It showed that 31.3 per cent respondents had no appointment letter, 32 per cent got no pay slip from their employers and 24.7 per cent had no identify card. The study said that about 15 per cent respondents informed that maternity leave was not given at their factories while 7.3 per cent of the respondents even did not know whether workers of their factories were allowed to enjoy maternity leave. Seventy-eight per cent of the respondents claimed that maternity leave was given to the workers of their factories but employers did not follow the legal provisions fully.
The study found that the factories of 36.7 per cent respondents allowed maternity leave for two and three months instead of four months. It found lack of arrangement of social protection measures including retirement benefit, health insurance, group insurance, provident fund, gratuity, skill development initiative, transport support, and residential arrangement.
According to the survey, 91.3 per cent of employers do not provide transport while 92 per cent have no arrangement for accommodation.
About sixty per cent workers do more overtime work than the hours stipulated in the law — maximum two hours daily, the study found. It said that 27.3 per cent surveyed workers reported that on average they worked three hours daily as overtime while 28 per cent of the workers reported that they worked five hours and more as overtime daily.
The study suggested making changes in some provisions of the Bangladesh Labour Act for eliminating harassment and discrimination at the workplace.
It also suggested proper implementation of the labour act to ensure gender specific needs of female workers at the workplace.
At the report launching meeting, experts said that the government should ensure decent life for workers
through proper implementation of laws and rules.

Khondoker Golam Moazzem, lookup director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said that people had been deprived of suitable charge of beyond regular time as factory authorities did not grant the allowance following rules.
He cautioned figuring out whether buyers are responsible for making sure respectable lifestyles for RMG workers.
Combined Garment Workers Federation president Nazma Akter said, ‘Forming anti-harassment committees is extra challenging than forming a alternate union in the factories.’ She stated that the learn about also consist of the wage shape and living preferred of workers as the first-rate of job and workers’ life were still in dire straits. Amirul Haque Amin, president of National Garment Workers Federation, stated that except altering the situation of employees the graduation of the united states of america to a middle-income one was impossible. He stated that the authorities must work out what quantity of cash need to be the minimal wage for the workers in a middle-income country. Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies executive director Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed said, ‘Political parties, civil society and economists have accountability to the 4 million employees engaged in the readymade garment sector in Bangladesh and they should increase their voice for placing a real looking wages for the RMG workers.’
He also advised the authorities to enforce labour legal guidelines to guard the workers’ rights so that no one faces job termination due to filling complaint over harassment.

 

Bangladesh proposes 5 more projects seeking funding from AIIB

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Bangladesh proposes 5 more projects seeking funding from AIIB

The operation of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is likely to expand further in the coming days in Bangladesh as five more projects are in the pipeline of this multilateral lending agency with an overall estimated funding layout of $885 million. “We do have some five projects in energy, transport and clean water sectors in the pipeline for Bangladesh and those are still in the initial phases. We’re looking at these projects in energy, transport and clean water ………we’re considering these projects,” said Laurel Ostfield, the Head of Communications and Development of AIIB. Laurel said this responding to a question at the ‘Bangladesh Media Roundtable‘ held at a city hotel.

AIIB’s principal communication officer Yuanjiang SUN was present.

The AIIB official said approval of these projects by the AIIB depends on fulfilling the specific criteria of the Bank. “We need to do our screening………..these projects need to be financially viable, environmentally friendly and socially acceptable,”

She said that Bangladesh has already proposed to the AIIB to make funding available for these five projects adding that AIIB value Bangladesh highly. Laurel informed that the AIIB on February 8 this year has approved a loan up to $60 million for a project in Bhola that will increase power generation capacity in Bangladesh and thus help the country respond to power shortages.

“With the new approval, the overall funding of the AIIB to Bangladesh stood at $285 million against three projects in the energy sector,” she added. The AIIB has already approved $60 million for the Natural Gas Infrastructure for Efficiency Improvement Project and another $165 million for the Bangladesh: Distribution System Upgrade and Expansion Project.

When asked why Bangladesh would prefer loans from AIIB when bilateral development partners like China and India are coming up with a large extent towards the development efforts of Bangladesh, the AIIB official said there might be bilateral and multilateral development partners, but the need is great for Bangladesh. “We offer better rates and we have a fresh balance of $9 billion (available for funding),” she said adding that they can process any project faster than others citing an example of a rural road project in Gujarat in India where the approval process took only six months time. Apart from this, Laurel said the AIIB follows a different approach in project approval process as they do not have any special interest while considering any project. “We’ve seen some bottlenecks (in the operations of other lending agencies). We’re not bringing those to AIIB,” she added. Replying to another question, she said the Bank right now has no such plan to forge any partnership strategy with Bangladesh like the World Bank and the ADB have adding that they are now taking the approach of developing business line in energy, transport and sustainable cities.

Earlier in her power-point presentation, Laurel confirmed that the Asia’s infrastructure funding gap is estimated at $26 trillion via 2030 and the focus areas of AIIB is on sustainable infrastructures, move border connectivity and personal capital mobilization. She stated when you consider that its inception, the AIIB has authorized loans well worth $4.2 billion of which round 6.6 percent of AIIB‘s total investment has been going to Bangladesh against the already permitted three projects. The sparkling approved debt financing of $60 million will guide the Bangladesh Bhola IPP, a green area 220-MW mixed cycle electricity plant in Bhola. Once, completed, the assignment will make bigger power era by using around 1,300 gigawatt hours annually.

The Bangladesh Bhola IPP venture marks the first task AIIB has financed alongside the Islamic Development Bank and Infrastructure Development Company Limited. The Project will be developed by way of Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure Capital Company Private Limited thru Nutan Bidyut (Bangladesh) Limited, a special-purpose car integrated in Bangladesh for the sole reason of developing the project.

Cabinet okays draft textile law

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Cabinet okays draft textile law

The cabinet on Monday gave its final approval to the draft of “The Textile Law, 2018” considering importance of huge apparel exports from Bangladesh, reports BSS. The approval was given at the weekly cabinet meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. Briefing reporters at Bangladesh Secretariat, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said the aim of the newly proposed law is to maintain quality of textile products as Bangladesh is earning huge foreign currency from this sector.

About 83 percent of the country’s total export earnings came from the textile sector last year, he said, adding that apparel products worth over 29.26 billion dollars were exported in the last fiscal. As per Section 6 of the draft law, Alam said, the government could provide incentive for any textile industry to achieve the goal of enacting the law.

The cupboard secretary stated a directorate would be constituted with the Director General as its head to be appointed with the aid of the government, while essential manpower will additionally be recruited for the organisation.

“The DG will work as the registrar of the organisation,” he added. Alam stated an officer will be given duty to look at first-class and widespread of more than a few factors together with paint and other chemical substances used in the material products. In this regard, he said the authorities can set up international preferred laboratory to accomplish such activities.

About provision of punishment, the cupboard secretary said registration of any enterprise could be suspended or even cancelled for giving wrong or false facts while taking the registration. He stated if needed, the authorities can decide the registration system of the shopping for houses, giving registration certificate, suspension of registration, its renewal and other matters with the aid of issuing gazette notification. The cabinet secretary said the responsible individual ought to look into any cloth industry in the machine fixed by regulations whether or not the industry is run as per the condition of registration.

The man or woman additionally may want to ship the statistics he obtained to the government with recommendations, he said. Alam said any aggrieved character should hotel an attraction with the authorities within 30 days. The cupboard secretary said the authorities or the directorate ought to hand over any energy as per the prerequisites to be fixed in the order to any person, reliable and or organisation.

Fix private sector’s problems to achieve SDGs: experts

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Fix private sector’s problems to achieve SDGs: experts

From left, Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, Asif Ibrahim, vice chairman of Newage Group, and M Masrur Reaz, senior economist in the Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice of the World Bank Group, are seen at the 3rd SANEM Annual Economists’ Conference 2018 at Brac Centre Inn in the capital yesterday. Photo: Star

Bangladesh will not be able to achieve the Sustainable Develop-ment Goals within the 2030 deadline without addressing challenges confronting the private sector, experts said yesterday. The country’s private sector is facing problems ranging from sluggish infrastructure investment, lack of skilled human resources to the energy crisis, unplanned urbanisation, and industrial pollution.

The 17 goals of the SDGs will not be achieved by 2030 if the government and the entrepreneurs do not take up the issues properly, according to the experts. “There is no structure in the country to arrange a discussion between the policymakers and the businesses of the private sector on how to solve the existing challenges,” said Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue. The authorities should give importance on resolving the issues in order to implement the SDGs, said Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh.

They spoke at a session titled “Reforms Need to Facilitate Private Sector Engagement for SDGs Achievement in Bangladesh” at the SANEM Annual Economists’ Conference 2018 at the Brac Centre Inn in Dhaka.

Bhattacharya said the required reforms in line with the SDGs are not being carried out as expected in absence of a discussion structure. “Inclusive development is not possible without discussions. A structure should be developed by ensuring the participation of the private sector.” The entrepreneurs should also come forward to implement the SDGs, he said. Mansur said the SDGs are closely aligned with Bangladesh’s development goals.

 

The desires comprise problems of environmental pleasant (climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss and deforestation) and sustained financial resilience (improving get right of entry to to sustainable energy resource, building sustainable cities and advertising of sustained economic growth), he said. The former economist of the International Monetary Fund said Bangladesh has mostly neglected infrastructure investment. Bangladesh’s public investment in infrastructure is 2 percentage of the gross domestic product, lagging in the back of the regional competitors.

In China and Vietnam, public quarter infrastructure funding has exceeded 7 percent of GDP, Mansur said.

According to Mansur, a burning trouble facing Bangladesh today is the growing shortage of herbal gasoline as recent data advise the modern reserves are possibly to be depleted in much less than 10 years. He advised the industrial zone to enlarge fuel use efficiency.

Mansur also stated when you consider that most industries are located on the banks of the country’s major rivers, industrial pollution is a serious chance to water quality. two Land grabbing by politically linked people also contributes to the unplanned development and waterlogging, he said.

M Masrur Reaz, a senior economist at the World Bank Group, stated Bangladesh is capable of the usage of only 35 percentage of the international value chain due to the fact of inefficiency. He said the country’s important export incomes is coming from its ordinary garment sector. Bangladesh have to produce varied export-oriented objects and find out new markets to advantage the most from the world fee chain, he said.

Reaz recommended the policymakers focal point on growing a expert body of workers and the usage of the modern-day technologies to boost export earnings. He stated an enlarge in the waft of overseas direct funding is relatively necessary to diversify exports. “The functionality of the neighborhood businesses can also be improved if overseas investors select the u . s . to make investment,” he said. Asif Ibrahim, vice chairman of Newage Group of Industries, and Habibullah N Karim, managing director of Technohaven Company Ltd, additionally spoke.

 

Policy on cards for apparel buying houses

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Policy on cards for apparel buying houses

The government is set to frame a policy to bring in discipline and ensure accountability among the buying houses in the export-oriented apparel industry. The commerce ministry has already prepared a draft that seeks to get buying houses registered with the Export Promotion Bureau. Without registration with the EPB, no buying house will be able to hand over letters of credit on behalf of buyers to manufacturers, according to the draft, which was sent to stakeholders for vetting last month. “This is an initial draft. Our spirit is to expand our export market by creating a good reputation of our sector,” said Md Abdur Rahim Khan, deputy chief at the commerce ministry’s textile cell. The move comes after some incidents of fraudulence by some buying houses. Last year, 26 Bangladeshi garment exporters became victims after two local garment buying houses, Vanguard and ASM Apparels, placed work orders on behalf of the “importer” Y&X, saying that the latter is owned by a Bangladeshi-born British citizen named Manjur Billah.

The duo offered higher prices on the condition that the raw materials have to be bought from select textile factories in China.

The deception got here to light after the first batch of consignments was left unclaimed for over one month at a UK port.

Until now, there has been no coverage on shopping for houses and there is no controlling authority for them, Khan said.

“We have been demanding a coverage for the last 10 years to carry in self-discipline in the sector,” stated Kazi Iftaquer Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association, which represents four hundred buying houses.

Apart from BGBA members, there are many shopping for houses running in the country, the complete of which would come to 1,500, he said.

A policy would be instrumental in resolving troubles or disputes that appear among buyers, buying houses and exporters.

As per the draft policy, buying homes and garb manufacturers will have to raise out commercial enterprise primarily based on contracts and ship the copies of contracts to their respective organisations.

Buying houses will have to hold transparency in deciding expenditures between shoppers and exporters, according to the draft.

After handing over the letters of credits to exporters on behalf of buyers, shopping for houses will have to continue to raise out responsibilities till exporters get payment, it said.

The draft coverage said shopping for homes or shopping for retailers will have to ship statements of order placement to the BGBA each three months. And the BGBA will ship the attested copies of statements to the EPB and the Bangladesh Bank.

If any dispute arises between the export-oriented firm and the buying house, they can practice to the arbitration committee of representative organisations, who would then settle the depend within four weeks, said the draft policy.

The draft policy seeks to form a panel to screen the activities of buying houses. The panel will inform the commerce ministry and propose actions if it finds involvement of any buying residence in export by way of violating rules.

Khan stated the draft coverage will get a structure in one or two months.

82pc remediation complete: Accord

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82pc remediation complete: Accord

Some 82 percent of overall remediation works have been carried out until January 1 this year in garment factories under the Accord, a platform of over 200 European clothing retailers and brands formed mainly to strengthen workplace safety.

A total of 127 garment factories have already completed all kinds of remediation or repairing suggested by the Accord engineers during preliminary inspections between 2014 and 2015.

Of the 1,600 member factories under the Accord, 699 have executed 90 percent of remediation works by January 1, according to data from the Accord.

The retailers and brands signed a five-year legally binding agreement in May 2013 after the Rana Plaza building collapse mainly to strengthen workplace safety by fixing loopholes concerning structural, fire and electrical aspects. The progress rate of Accord factories in installing fire detection and prevention systems increased to 41 percent in the last three months from 31 percent in the preceding period, the Accord said in a statement on Friday.

In the fire safety remediation process, 96 percent of factories removed lockable and collapsible gates and 41 percent installed fire detection and prevention systems, it said.

In case of common electrical safety, 70 percentage of lighting safety device installation and 80 percentage of ample cable and wiring works have been finished so a ways in the factories, it said. Adequate cable and wiring refers to all electrical remediation associated to safe use, support and safety of cables.

So far, the Accord authorised fifty six percentage of Detailed Engineering Assessment (DAE), 66 percentage of load administration structures and sixty one percent of drawing plans, delivered the inspection, remediation and monitoring agency.

In October 2017, the Accord furnace engineers participated in a checking out and commissioning training programme with international fire engineering company Jensen-Hughes.

It covered visits to forty Accord factories to take a look at whether hearth detection and prevention systems are precise mounted and commissioned. Since then, a further 127 factories done installing the systems.

The last three months saw a 6 percent expand in the variety of Accord factories the use of sufficient cable connections and wiring in contrast to the preceding period.

The equal used to be for the adoption of a load management plan. Load administration prevents overloading sure parts of a building, which can in any other case purpose cracks and even the structure to collapse.

The Accord its programme to contain protection committees in figuring out and addressing security problems at factories it blanketed at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) forum on due diligence in the garment and sneakers area in Paris on January 31.

Some 181 security committees performed the Accord education to tackle and screen fitness and security problems at their factories.

Regarding its subsequent step, the inspection organization said 107 manufacturers and retailers have so some distance signed the 2018 Transition Accord, overlaying over 1,200 of the present day factories.

On February 2, the 2018 Transition Accord Interim Steering Committee agreed on the annual prices for going for walks the Accord activities for June 2018-May 2019.

It was similarly agreed that signatories to the 2018 Transition Accord may choose to list their suppliers in any of the categories of home textiles, fabric and knit accessories.

Orion opens LPG bottling plant in Mongla

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Orion opens LPG bottling plant in Mongla

Orion Group yesterday opened a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) bottling plant in Mongla in a bid to plug the gap in cooking fuel supply.

The plant built at a cost of Tk 200 crore will supply 80,000 tonnes of LPG per year. The country’s demand for LPG, used mainly for cooking, is estimated at 1 million tonnes a year, while public and private companies can supply up to 600,000 tonnes, leaving a constant supply shortfall. With the capacity to fill 1,500 cylinders per hour, the Orion plant has come up with two 1,500-tonne spherical storage tanks. The company imports the gas from the Middle East.

Orion officials stated the employer emphasises handing over gas in perfect portions and making sure gas cylinders’ safety. For example, the cylinders have zinc coating to resist rusting. They said the storage ability of the plant would quickly be extended to 5,000 tonnes. Orion also plans to construct a 3,000-tonne storage facility in Chittagong, and construct satellite tv for pc storage services of 500 tonnes each in six divisional cities. Orion would also add an LPG delivery gadget thru tank lorries to ensure bulk LPG elements to industrial devices and high-rise buildings.

Orion will convey to the market a “reticulated system” for LPG supply. In this system, LPG is supplied to a consumer’s kitchen from a centralised cylinder bank. Individuals in an rental constructing would not want to buy LPG cylinders one after the other and can depend on a centralised provide system.

Changes needed in economic pattern

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Changes needed in economic pattern

Local and regional institutions should be restructured to benefit from global business, for which political willingness is highly important, economists said yesterday. “The core challenge for South Asian countries is to restructure their economic pattern,” said Rehman Sobhan, chairman of the Centre of Policy Dialogue, at a session on the opening day of the two-day SANEM Annual Economists’ Conference 2018. The Asian countries are holding major foreign currency reserves, he said, citing China’s reserves of $3 trillion to further his point.

India and China should maintain a good relationship with each other to benefit from the global value chain and integration is required among the Asian countries. Sobhan’s comments came at the session titled “Institutions, Governance and Trade in the Context of Emerging Global and Regional Challenge – A South Asian Panel Discussion in Memory of Dr Saman Kelegama”. Speakers said Bangladesh’s position in the global value chain is at now the lower end: buyers purchase items made in the country at a low cost and sell them at prices that are six to seven times higher.

The united states of america will have to limit the gap in the world cost chain and groups ought to enhance their negotiation skills, Sobhan said.

Bangladesh’s change gap has widened notably in current instances and its export’s capacity is low too.

For instance, Vietnam, a competitor of Bangladesh in the world market, has seen its export profits pass the $200 billion-mark already. “But Bangladesh is nevertheless a ways away from the level,” he added.

The authorities focus on how the least-developed countries like Bangladesh can expand their participation in international trade, stated Mustafizur Rahman, a distinctive fellow of the CPD.

The developed nations did no longer observe on their dedication made at a LDCs convention in 2011 to decrease the quantity of LDCs to 24 from 48, he said.

They had additionally promised that the export volume of the LDCs would be extended to 2.80 percent of the world share from 1.40 percent, in accordance to Rahman.

“But, they failed to preserve their each promises.” The economist said nearby and regional establishments put pressure on world businesses like the World Trade Organisation to implement the commitments. two

Political willingness is important to improve the regional institutions like the South Asia Free Trade Agreement and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. It is no longer viable to put in force the regional economic quarter and the economic union by way of 2020 in the absence of a political willingness, he said.

There are three types of enterprise — policy, regulatory and implementer — in Bangladesh. “We need to take the initiative to make stronger the organizations to make sure the activity of the workers and the producers.”

Rahman also said the u . s . ought to end capital flight. two

According to the Panama and Paradise Papers, $5 billion has been laundered from the country. Of the sum, eighty percentage had been laundered thru mis-invoicing, he added. Democracy is a pivotal factor in strengthening institutional capability, stated Posh Raj Pandey, chairman of the Kathmandu-based South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment. “Stable democratic scenario will also increase financial outcome,” he added.

Kunal Sen, a professor of the University of Manchester; Prabir Dey, a professor of the Research and Information System for Developing Countries in India; and Dushni Weerakoon, govt director of the Institute of Policy Studies, Sri Lanka, additionally spoke.

Selim Raihan, government director of the SANEM, moderated the session.

Political harmony needed to achieve GDP target: MCCI

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Political harmony needed to achieve GDP target: MCCI

Political harmony should be maintained in the country to achieve the government’s economic growth and inflation targets, said the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka (MCCI) yesterday.

It said adequate infrastructure, energy, policy continuity, skilled manpower, political stability and investment-friendly climate are the key factors for higher economic growth. “It is assumed that the peaceful political situation that currently prevails will continue in the coming days. Therefore, export, import, and remittances can be expected to increase.” The oldest chamber of the country made the observation in its review of the economic situation for October-December 2017. It said the overall economic situation in the country was positive in the quarter under review as indicated by steady improvements in the major economic indicators. “The economic system is progressing well regardless of the presence of some danger elements such as marginal boom in remittances, slower boom in the export receipts, and a greater price of inflation.”

The country, however, skilled secure financial growth. Inflation, even though a bit higher, used to be below control, and the change rate remained nearly stable. Foreign change reserves rose to a relaxed level. During the July‐December period, the agriculture zone performed well, but non-stop government aid with inputs and finance will be wished to sustain the sector’s growth.

Infrastructure deficits and gasoline and energy grant issues had been undermining the performance of the manufacturing as properly as the agriculture sector, said the review. “The authorities will, therefore, need to undertake appropriate measures to get rid of these bottlenecks in order to aid the boom of these two essential sectors.”

The chamber stated the offerings region is doing well, but it will additionally need aid in unique areas. The overseas trade reserve will relatively fall in January and March and it is a everyday annual phenomenon as the government makes repayments to the Asian Clearing Union against imports. The rate of inflation is, however, probably to go up from January because of the in all likelihood rise in some fundamental commodities, consisting of gas oil, stated the chamber. The MCCI stated the government wants to improve the country’s street and rail infrastructure, advance port facilities, expand strength and gasoline production, and do away with different infrastructure bottlenecks to obtain quicker economic growth.

At the same time, impediments such as the lengthen in execution of improvement projects, lack of professional manpower and insufficiency of industrial land ought to be removed to fix the self belief of the country’s business and investor community. “There are additionally the challenges of rising geopolitical tensions and the Rohingya refugee crisis that will want to be met.” The chamber stated Bangladesh ought to focus on new and emerging markets such as China and Japan. Product upgradation is a have to for a higher price. About the flow of overseas direct investment, the chamber stated the FDI influx to Bangladesh is low in contrast to many countries at a comparable stage in development.

Bangladesh’s low labour costs are generally believed to be captivating to foreign investors, however they still hesitate to make sparkling investments because of the country’s underdeveloped infrastructure, political uncertainty, and other impediments. “The government wishes to address these impediments to attract more FDI.” The review said the real estate, renting and business activities performed better in FY2016-17 compared to 4.47 percent in FY2015-16. In spite of the tremendous potential of the sector, factors such as land value distortion and absence of a secondary property market adversely affected its development.

The real estate business has of late seen some improvement thanks to property price corrections and falling interest rates on home loans, according to the chamber.