Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Thursday called for creating domestic market of Bangladeshi goods and raising the buying capacity of the people to strengthen the base of the economy.
“It won’t be proper to only consider the export. We will have to focus on creating internal market and increasing the purchasing capacity of the people, which is most important for the country’s economy,” she said.
“The foundation of our economy won’t be strengthened, if we can’t create domestic market and raise the buying capacity of the people,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina said the domestic market would be created when the buying capacity of the common people would go up. She, however, mentioned that the buying capacity of the people has been surged to a great extent as the per capita income of the people has increased.
“The per capita income of the people has been increased to US Dollar 1190 thanks to various steps taken by the government in the last five years,” she said.
The Prime Minister said this while addressing senior officials of the Commerce Ministry during her visit to the ministry at Bangladesh Secretariat here this morning.
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed spoke on the occasion, while Secretary of the ministry Hedayet Ullah Al-Mamun was present.
Sheikh Hasina said the main task of the commerce ministry is to specify the import-export policy and its implementation by keeping consistency with the country’s production and demands of the consumers.
“Keeping this in mind, we will have to control inflation by keeping the prices of essentials within buyers’ capacity and establish rights of the consumers,” she said.
The Prime Minister said Bangladesh has been facing various challenges in the open market economy. “But we will have to advance by encountering these challenges and take steps by considering our socioeconomic condition,” she said.
“We will also have to take measures by considering the demands of the people, access to the world market and producing the goods which have demand in the global market,” she said.
