BANKS, POLITICS BIGGEST WORRIES

The Daily Star has carried out an opinion poll among the business community to get a sense of the bright and weak spots of the economy in the outgoing year. A total of 37 prominent businessmen, including presidents of four leading trade bodies; chief executives of banks, non-bank financial institutions and insurance companies; economists and researchers were interviewed. They also shared their expectations, worries and priorities for 2019.

A flagging banking sector and possible post-election instability are the two biggest concerns for the economy in the incoming year, according to an opinion poll run by The Daily Star.

As many as four-fifths of the respondents said the ongoing indiscipline in the financial sector may deepen in the new year.

The other risks include: external shocks from geo-political tension and trade war, exchange rate volatility, policy inconsistency, stagnant private investment, and slow implementation of large infrastructure projects.

More than 62 percent of the respondents expect the political stability, which they had enjoyed throughout the tenure of the outgoing government, will continue into 2019.

Taming of corruption and improvement in governance are their other major expectations.

More than one-third of the respondents are hoping on tangible improvements in the ease of doing business in the new year.

Some of the respondents also mentioned of the need to enhance the skills of human resources, alleviate traffic congestion, and ensure stable energy supply to clock in higher economic growth in 2019.

In the opinion poll The Daily Star asked two other questions: what are the growth drivers and what were the risks businesses faced in the outgoing year.

The top five growth drivers were: exports, public spending on infrastructure, remittance, political stability, and agriculture. More than 62 percent of the respondents said exports played a key role in the outgoing year's economic growth.

Rising domestic consumption, stable power supply, and development of digital infrastructure also played their parts. The major challenges they faced in 2018 were: lack of good governance, high cost of doing business, low private investment, port congestion, rising interest rate, and depreciation of taka.