Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Bangladesh should look for a new economic relationship with Britain after the country’s vote to leave the European Union (EU), economists said on Saturday.
They said the new era of engagement is necessary to safeguard Bangladesh’s duty-free market access to the United Kingdom (UK) and pursue ‘common shared agenda’ including promoting trade and investment.
“Bangladesh enjoys duty-free benefits for all products and flexible rules of origins for readymade garments in the EU. Now, Bangladesh would have to need bilateral agreements with the UK to avail the facility,” Prof Mustafizur Rahman, Executive Director of Centre for Policy Dialogue told The New Nation on Saturday.
He said, the UK is one of the key export markets for Bangladeshi products and keeping the access to the market is vital for the country’s future trade and export development to the country.
“To keep the faculty intact, we must engage a new economic relationship with the UK to help promoting bilateral trade between the two countries,” he added.
Prof Mustafiz further said that Bangladesh should continue to monitor Brexit developments closely and stand ready to act accordingly with the developments.
“The Brexit bloodbath has sent global stock markets into free fall but Bangladesh economy is yet to face any adverse situation,” he said, adding, “There is no immediate impact yet in sight but a falling value of pound and Euro may put an adverse impact on our export earnings to the UK.”
“The Brexit brings negate things for the global economy including the UK. If this impact continues to send shockwaves to global market, we may also see some sort of impact on Bangladesh too,” Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam, a leading economist of the country, told The New Nation on Saturday.
He said, many fears that the UK may fall into recession again following its exit from the EU. If it happens, it may squeeze demand for Bangladeshi products, especially RMG putting an adverse impact on export sector.
But, the impact may not come immediately. We have to wait for the further economic consequences following the Brexit.
He, however, mentioned that the falling value of British pound may have negative impact on Bangladesh’s overall remittance earnings as an immediate impact of Brexit.
Echoing view of Prof Mustafiz, he also stressed the need for a new economic relationship with the UK to pursue development agendas of both countries.
Dr Mirza Aziz also said that Britain’s decision to leave the EU may not have immediate impact on Bangladesh’s export trade in the UK as the exit process would take two years time.
Bangladesh’s exports to the UK totalled US$ 3.20 billion in the financial year 2015-16 with US$ 2.90 billion coming from the readymade garments sector.
