During the pandemic around 22 lakh people lost their jobs as the country's economy, trade and investment went through a very challenging time, said Rizwan Rahman, president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), yesterday.

"The overall economy fell into a crisis due to a rapid spread of Covid-19 cases across the world while poverty rate increased to 30 per cent from 9 per cent," he said.

Rahman was presenting a keynote at a webinar on "Biannual Economic State & Future Stance of Bangladesh Economy-Private Sector Perspective", organised by the DCCI.

He said economic recovery was now the only target to be achieved.

Moreover, Bangladesh is going to become a developing nation leaving the club of the least developed countries (LDCs) in 2026 and has just five years in hand to make preparations, he said.

The country may lose $4 billion to $6 billion of export earnings following the graduation, he said.

In order to boost internal revenue generation, Rahman suggested adopting full automation in tax, VAT, customs assessment, returns and credit processes.

About the monetary policy, he said relaxed terms and conditions of repayment and collateral would help increase credit demand from the private sector.

The DCCI president recommended improving the country's competitiveness, cluster development of backward linkage industry, expanding advance deposit ratio (ADR) system and capital market-led long term financing to accelerate private investment.

He said cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises were going through a very tough time during this volatile situation.

For their survival, he suggested enabling collateral-free cash flows such as through loans, comprehensive policy framework, reducing bureaucratic complexities and at least a three-year moratorium period.

Addressing the webinar, Planning Minister MA Mannan said the government would continue its engagement with the private sector for framing a better policy regime for reforms, including that on tax and tariff structures.

Regarding the prevailing Covid-19 crisis, he said mass vaccination has started and hopefully the crisis would be overcome shortly.  

He also said the private sector was in the driving seat when it came to stimulating the economy while the government was engaging in a good collaboration with the private sector which would take Bangladesh to a new destination.

Mohammed Farashuddin, chief adviser to East West University and a former Bangladesh Bank governor, said credit flow should be ensured for the cottage and micro entrepreneurs, which in turn would create the lifeline for a pragmatic shape of the economy.

Regarding revenue mobilisation, he said the private sector with its 2.5 crore people having a per capita income of $5,000 could contribute in mobilising revenue.

He urged policy reforms and an efficient credit flow mechanism so that cottage, micro and small entrepreneurs could largely benefit.

He also urged for a buy back system for attracting better foreign direct investment and a transformation of the agriculture sector in producing goods and services for the domestic market.     

In his keynote presentation, the DCCI president said in terms of the macroeconomic perspective over the last six months, the economy was moving more or less in the right direction despite the manifold Covid-led challenges.

According to him, both public and private sectors have to work hand in hand towards the road to recovery to achieve the game-changing economic transformation of Bangladesh targeted in 2026 and 2041.

Zaidi Sattar, chairman of the Policy Research Institute (PRI), underscored a tripartite partnership among the public, private and non-public sectors.

"Consumers are the integral part of private sector. So there should be a balance between the producers and consumers," he said.

"Depending on strong macroeconomic strength, Bangladesh's economy is performing quite better than the other countries in the world, although we are going through a tough time due to Covid," he noted.

He also mentioned that the growth was dependent on three pillars -- namely macroeconomic development, export performance and trade development.

He advocated for a sustainable trade policy enabling equal treatment, especially for the non-garment sectors.

Binayak Sen, director general of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), said there was no up-to-date data on the poverty situation, employment or human development, which actually affect the quality of policy formulation.

"We need a systematic and coordinated database," he said, adding that he was hopeful that after the lockdown, the poverty rate would come down.

"While designing a stimulus package, priority should be given to cottage and small sector," said Sen.

He also underscored the importance of removing inequality in delivering education. For accelerating private investment, domestic tax structure is an issue, he added.

He further urged rationalising the domestic structure of tax, tariffs and hidden subsidies.

Moreover, he suggested decentralising the budget and institutional reforms to reach out to all the sectors.      

Mohammad Abdul Momen, director of the Institute of Business Administration of the University of Dhaka, stressed on the need for product diversification and entrepreneurial diversification to face the graduation challenges.

He urged to strengthen government to government diplomacy to avail GSP+ facilities after the graduation.

He also underscored the importance of creating a "Made in Bangladesh" brand. "For that we can utilise the online platform," he said.

Nazneen Ahmed, country economist, UNDP Bangladesh, said "We cannot go for an unlimited lockdown for the sake of the economy so we have to go for mass vaccination and abiding by the health advisories."

During this volatile situation, access to finance including financial inclusion for the cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises, are more important, she said.

"In liquidity management system, we have to accommodate small investors for access to finance. To facilitate women entrepreneurs, including their financial inclusion, e-commerce can be a potential platform," she added.

She also urged for a public-private collaboration, nexus of government planning, improving trade negotiation and climate negotiating skills and green financing mechanism of banks.

Among others, NKA Mobin, senior vice president of the DCCI, and Monowar Hossain, vice president of the DCCI, addressed the webinar.