For sustainable economic growth amidst latest developments on the external front, experts highlighted the urgency of strengthening country’s institutional capacity, both economic and political, alongside good governance. The suggestions came from a discussion meeting at the second conference of Bangladesh Economist’s Forum (BEF)-2015 at the Bangladesh Bank Training Academy at Mirpur in the city Saturday, as some evolving adversities, including possible impact of a new bloc led by the United States, came up for a close scrutiny. To dispel apprehensions, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed told the meet that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement would not have any impact on the country’s economy, especially on export of readymade garments (RMG). “Bangladesh is the second-largest RMG-exporting country. The TPP will not affect the export of RMG, as the participants in TPP have very little share of Bangladesh export except the USA, which also denies duty-free access,” said the minister. Twelve Pacific Rim countries signed the TPP agreement on October 5 in Atlanta to boost trade and business among themselves. Economists and businessmen feared that it might affect Bangladesh trade and business as number of Bangladesh’s competitors, especially in apparel sector, are on the TPP bandwagon. But the commerce minister ruled out the possibility of any such fallout as most of the TPP members do not have any significant stake in world RMG sector, excepting Vietnam. “Despite various limitations, we have achieved significant progress in many sectors than our neighbouring countries, including India and Pakistan,” said the minister. But the speakers focused on tenuous pillars of such spontaneous advances in various sectors are based on and called for urgent steps for building and bolstering the institutions. “You cannot ensure proper development without strengthening the government institutions and establishing good governance,” said Prof Wahiduddin Mahmud while making his suggestions. State Minister for Finance M A Mannan attended the meeting as special guest while Policy Research Institute Vice Chairman Dr Sadiq Ahmed was in the chair. The meeting was also addressed, among others, by Bangladesh Bank governor Dr Atiur Rahman and former BIDS Director-General Dr Mustafa Kamal Mujeri. Former Finance Minister Dr. M. Syeduzzaman moderated the discussion while former president of Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) Dr Mohiuddin Alamgir presented the keynote paper on ‘Strengthening Institutions to Accelerate Growth and Lower Poverty’. Earlier, Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury inaugurated a collection of essays by leading economists in the country under the title ‘Bangladesh Vision 2030: Framework for Economic Policymaking and Strategy Formulation in a Pluralistic Democracy’. The essays detailed out an inclusive and sustainable vision for Bangladesh and identified challenges that need meticulous attention for sustaining the progress. Addressing the inaugural function the speaker said Bangladesh is no more a ‘bottomless basket’ rather the country became a model for many of the countries for its excellent performance both in the field of economy and social sectors. “Bangladesh is rapidly moving forward in every sector including gender parity and reducing child and maternal mortality rate,” said the speaker, adding that the foundation of the economy of the country is now stronger than any time before. She also stressed the need for ensuring the participation of women in making future plans and synthesizing the economies of urban and rural areas. Turning to Free Trade Area, the commerce minister informed his audience that many of the countries are now interested to sign FTA with Bangladesh. “But we are taking time as we have already got duty-free access to many countries, including EU countries, Australia, Japan and Canada.” Mr Tofail, however, said discussion with Sri Lanka is almost at the final stage. Talks are also going on with Argentina, Brazil and Chili in this regard. He expressed the hope that Bangladesh would achieve average 7.4 per cent GDP growth per annum during the Seventh Five Year Plan (SFYP) period and reach its goal of becoming middle-income country before the 100th birth anniversary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 2020 Prof Wahiduddin Mahmud, a former caretaker government adviser, identified tax-GDP ratio and education as two major weak areas where the government should give more attention and called for making government institutions more transparent and accountable. The annual budget has problem with revenue shortfall and optimistic ADP falling short due to implementation problem, the noted economist observed. BB governor Dr Atiur Rahman also stressed the need for strengthening the institutional capacities of government institutions, free from undue external influences. “Public institutions like monetary, financial and capital market regulators have suffered much from external undue influence denying them free hand in decisions on licensing, regulation and supervision of financial markets and institutions,” he said. “Management efficiency in SOEs has remained abysmal, eroding accountability and entailing enormous drain on public resources,” the governor told the meet. Saying that rightful and strong institutions are essential for sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction, Dr. Mujeri called for developing inclusive institutions that allow the poor and socially excluded group to participate in the development process. Dr Mohiuddin Alamgir in his paper portrayed Bangladesh’s successes in various economic and social fields despite the limitations. It’s a “miracle”, he said. “Bangladesh has done well both in income growth and poverty reduction presumably without strong institutions,” said Dr Alamgir, adding that the growth would be sustainable if institutions are strong. Bangladesh, according to him, is enjoying macroeconomic stability because of sound macroeconomic management. He, however, criticised the planning commission for slow implementation of projects. “Implementation of mega projects is a nightmare; just try a trip to Chittagong, money is collected but can not be spent, implementation delay piled up , five-year project goes to 15 and still continuing,” he said. To address the problem, he suggested the planning commission to focus more on strategies and policies of perspective five-year plans, improving regulatory regime to make gain in Global Competitive Index, doing business and private investment and strengthen the mid-term budgetary framework. Prof Abu Ahmed also stressed the need for immediate formation of Financial Reporting Council to ensure transparency and accountability in the financial sector and preventing incidents like Hall-Mark and share-market scams.
