Business Desk :
ICC Bangladesh strongly endorsed the finance ministry’s recent recommendation to avoid hard loans and discourage the import of luxury goods in order to reduce pressure on declining foreign exchange reserves.
The leading chamber also endorsed the recent austerity and regulatory measures taken by the government and Bangladesh Bank aimed at curbing non-essential imports, suspending the implementation of projects with high import components.
“We believe this will send a positive signal to the market and the economy as well as curbing inflation,” said ICCB President Mahbubur Rahman.
He spoke while presenting ICCB Executive Board Report at its 27th annual council held in the capital on Saturday.
ICCB also supports the demand of the businesses not to increase the power and gas rates, fuel prices as well reduce the corporate rate taxes during the upcoming budget as these will be helpful in containing the inflation, the ICCB president said.
The report mentioned that over the last two years, the pandemic has played a major role in shaping the global economy. Many sectors have found themselves in difficulty and are still struggling and the countries dependent on those sectors are now quietly trying to get back up again.
Despite the strong economic recovery in 2021, the financial difficulties are not over and may still cause economic slowdown, according to chamber.
In addition, many countries are faced with an increasing debt burden, high inflation and burning issue of the moment, geopolitical tensions, which all play a major role, it said.
The global economy is poised to be sent on yet another unpredictable course by Russia-Ukraine war.
This war is a major humanitarian crisis affecting millions of people and a severe economic shock of uncertain duration and magnitude.
The magnitude of the economic impact of the war is highly uncertain and will depend in part on the duration of the war and the policy responses, but it is clear that the war will result in a substantial near-term drag on global growth and significantly stronger inflationary pressures, the report added.
The Executive Board Report observed that the Russian invasion of Ukraine poses the most severe risk to developing Asia’s economic outlook.
The war is already affecting economies in the region through sharp increases in prices for commodities such as oil and has heightened instability in global financial markets.
