Staff Reporter :
Business leaders and trade analysts have underscored the need for attracting more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and diversifying the country’s export basket as the country graduates into a developing one.
They made emphasis at the webinar titled “Challenges and Way forward on Export Diversification of Bangladesh Upon LDC Graduation: A Regulatory Reform Perspective,” organised by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), in association with Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) on Sunday.
“The export earning was $38.75 billion in the immediate past fiscal year. Of which, RMG sector alone constitutes 81 per cent, which was 84 per cent in the previous fiscal. It means the non-RMG export increased, although it is not faster in line with the RMG sector,” said A H M Ahsan, Vice-Chairman and CEO of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
He said policy reform and policy support will expedite boosting the non-RMG exports.
“End of the day, this is the world of business and the government do not do business rather play a role of facilitator,” he added.
DCCI President Rizwan Rahman said that light engineering, jute and jute goods, IT and ITES, pharmaceutical, agro and agro-processing, leather and leather goods are the promising sectors of the country.
These sectors should be facilitated before entering into the reign of middle income country status, he said. He said limited access to finance, shortages of skilled human resources, high duty on import of raw materials, non-tariff barriers, lengthy customs and testing processes, lack of certification, low-cost bank loan, required policy reforms, delay in implementing API Park, weak backward linkage network, lesser agricultural productivity and limited negotiation capability are the major challenges of these sectors.
These need to be addressed to be more competitive in the international market, the DCCI president said.
Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah, Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office, said that it is the right time to grow other potential export items as it is inevitable, we may lose a lot of waivers after graduation.
Value-added goods and stringent compliance will increase our branding, he said.
He also underscored importance on human resource development, research and development, value chain and backward linkage.
Md Alamgir Hossain, Member (Tax Policy) of the National Board of Revenue, said, “We need to identify potential products and market first. Then, we will surely consider all possible facilitation to boost the sectors.”
Currently, NBR is providing tax benefits, tax holiday and tax incentives in different sectors to minimize cost of doing business, he added.
Shaikh Yusuf Harun, Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA), Dulal Krishna Saha, Executive Chairman of the National Skills Development Authority (NSDA), Dr Selim Raihan, Executive Director of SANEM and Md Habibur Rahman, Executive Director (Research) of Bangladesh Bank, among others, spoke.
