Staff Reporter :
Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith on Wednesday said that investment is the big challenge to the country’s economy. He blamed BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia for the downtrend.
“We did not attract investment in the private sector during the last six to seven months due to political turmoil created by Khaleda Zia. This situation has become a big challenge to the economy. Investors are not making investment due to feeling insecurity to private sector,” said the
minister.
He said these while addressing at the inaugural session of a workshop on “Development Challenge in Bangladesh”, jointly organised by the Economic Reporters’ Forum (ERF) and World Bank at the Hotel Sonargaon in the city.
ERF president Sultan Mahmud chaired the function while Christine Kimes, acting country head of World Bank Bangladesh, also spoke at the function, among others.
AMA Muhith said that the ‘foolish policy’ of Khaleda Zia is responsible for the country’s current economic downtrend, as the economy suffered heavily due to shutdown, bombings and killings in the end of last year. “The economy is still suffering heavily as we have failed to woo foreign and local investment till now,” he said.
He, however, hoped that the foreign investors would come back in a big way to invest in Bangladesh soon although the domestic investors are still reluctant. It was not clear that why the domestic investors are not taking the advantage though they are investing in the UK, USA, Malaysia and Dubai for buying houses and other purposes, he said.
