Govt mulls incentives for SME, food processing
Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed yesterday said the government is considering incentives for investing in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and food processing industry.
He said this at a roundtable conference in Dhaka.
BRAC Advocacy and Human Rights Unit (BAHRU) in association with The Financial Express organised the roundtable on “BRAC Ultra Poor Programme: Social Participation”.
Programme Chief Rabeya Yasmin made a presentation on how the BRAC programme helps one-lakh ultra poor households to improve their lives.
Moazzem Hossain, editor of The Financial Express, was moderator at the meeting, attended by economists, experts on poverty alleviation, academics, social scientists, senior journalists, and NGO representatives, while BRAC Executive Director Dr Mahabub Hossain presided over.
The Governor said macroeconomic policies must be conducive to poverty alleviation, but in last 30 years the country failed to decentralise development to reduce poverty. “We now have realized this, and decentralisation has to be done rapidly,” he said.
Dr Salehuddin said, “Micro-interventions in poverty alleviation in Bangladesh have been acclaimed worldwide, but the world community question about our poor macroeconomic performance.”
“Markets and institutions are not working together to materialise the macro-policy targets. As a result, poverty alleviation has not been sustainable,” he said.
Businessmen sought policy support to expand their businesses and create employment opportunities.
The businessmen were, on the other hand, blamed for trying to make irrational profit during the recent price hike of the essentials.
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