Business Desk :
Long-term innovative financing and a vibrant bond market are crucial for sustainable infrastructure development in Bangladesh, speakers said at a webinar on Sunday.
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) and Commerce Ministry organised the webinar on “Bridging the infrastructure gap through credit solutions in Bangladesh” under the Bangladesh Trade and Investment Summit 2021.
Addressing the programme as chief guest, Salman F Rahman, private industry and investment adviser to the prime minister, said all kinds of financing including infrastructure financing have been improved in Bangladesh.
“But what we need is to create a vibrant structured bond market in our country. Right at this moment, there is huge liquidity in the banking sector and if we could have been able to divert this liquidity into bonds that would have been helpful,” he said.
Md Nojibur Rahman, chairman of Capital Market Stabilisation Fund, said a boom of infrastructural development is going on now in Bangladesh. “We need capital and finance but domestic finance is not enough.”
DCCI President Rizwan Rahman said Infrastructure is a critical enabler of compounding industrialization and economic development. Substantial investment in infrastructure is needed to accelerate trade and economic growth.
To improve infrastructural competitiveness, investment is being made in wide-ranging infrastructure projects though they are relatively inadequate, he said.
Andrew Bainbridge, chair of Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), said mobilizing the private sector is a very critical enabler of growth.
Yukiko Omura, chair of GuarantCo, said they are in Bangladesh to assist to develop the local capital market and provide credit solutions to finance infrastructure projects that help boost economic growth and improve the quality of people’s lives and alleviate poverty in line with the SDG goals.
