Businesses and economists on Saturday expressed their apprehension that the deadly Gulshan hotel siege, in which 28 people, mostly foreigners were killed, might put a severe impact on the Bangladesh’s economy, especially on its exports and investment. The killing of such a large number of foreigners in the attack by the hostage-taking gunmen in between Friday night and Saturday morning is the first of its kind in Bangladesh whose economy largely depends on external trades like garment exports. Business leaders said that before Friday’s attack the sporadic killings of religious minorities and two foreigners in last few months amid months of political uncertainty had already made foreign investors and buyers jittery. ‘The latest incident of killing of so many foreigners in the protected zone of Dhaka will certainly make foreign investors and buyers of Bangladesh garments jitterier. The garment buyers would not want to come to Bangladesh to place orders and we may need to go to the third countries to negotiate orders with them,’ a former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association told New Age on Saturday. Siddique Rahman, the incumbent president of BGMEA, said that the Gulshan attack would put severe impact on business as well as on economy. ‘Such kind of terror attack is completely unacceptable and Bangladesh will have to face image crisis,’ he said. Siddiq said that they were worried about the future of export business.He, however, thanked the government and law enforcers to resolve the hostage situation within a short time. Country’s export earnings in the July-May period of the current financial year topped $30.66 billion, of which earnings from readymade garment amounted to $25.08 billion in the period, according to the Export Promotion Bureau data. Middle East-based militant group ISIS claimed the responsibility for the Gulashan attack in which a group of people armed with fire arms, swords and bombs entered into a Spanish restaurant named Holey Artisan Bakery on Road 79 in Gulshan diplomatic zone in the capital of Dhaka on Friday evening, taking around 30 people including foreigners hostage. After 10 hours of the hostage situation, army personnel and law enforcers started operation in the restaurant and rescued 13 people alive while they found 20 dead bodies, mostly Japanese and Italians, in the restaurant. During the commando operation by law enforcers six attackers were killed and a suspected attacker was held. ‘I fear that a climate of uncertainty would immerge in trade and business sector in Bangladesh due to the Gulshan terror attack,’ Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, told New Age. He said that country’s image would suffer a setback for the attack but the positive thing was that the government brought the situation under control within a very short time. ‘Such kind of attack is not acceptable to any country and it would cast a negative impact on export business as buyers would be frightened to visit Bangladesh,’ Mustafiz said. He said the terror attack has created a new dimension for the entrepreneurs in home and abroad who want to make investment in Bangladesh. To avoid a long-term impact of the attack, the government should take stern action so that such type of attack does not take place in future, Mustafiz said.Mirza Azizul Islam, a former interim government adviser, said that the Gulshan terror attack was related to the question of image of the country. ‘For a considerable period investors have doubt over security in Bangladesh. So, investment may decline due to the attack. Investors feel insecurity for their lives and assets in Bangladesh, which has resulted in the rise of fund flow to Swiss banks,’ he said. Mirza Aziz said that country’s export business would be hampered due to the terror attack as some countries had already imposed ban on direct cargo from Bangladesh on security ground. Anwar-ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, a former BGMEA president, said that the business of the country would be affected as the foreigners would be frightened to visit Bangladesh after the incident. He said it was nothing but to introduce Bangladesh as a communal country and ‘If we fail to handle the situation, it will put a negative impact on the image of country.’‘There is no doubt that a political consensus is must to overcome the situation, otherwise vested groups would take the opportunity of our political disagreement,’ Parvez said.According to media reports, a number of officials of a Dhaka-based Spanish buying house were there during the attack as the restaurant is also popular among foreign businesspeople. The fate of the officials was still unknown till the filing of the report at 8:00pm. A Reuters report quoted a country manager of a France-based garment-buying house in Dhaka who said that his business could now suffer a deep slump. ‘We fear they might take a decision to narrow the volume or they may even wind up the business entirely,’ he said, asking to speak on the condition of anonymity to avoid harming his business ties. Policy Research Institute executive director Ahsan H Mansur said Bangladesh is appearing as a high-risk country and the government should have to change the situation quickly. ‘If the situation continues, many foreigners would leave Bangladesh and trade would be hampered,’ he said. Mansur said that the government should root out terrorism with an iron hand; otherwise buyers would avoid the country. He thought that political suppression should be stopped in the country. Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of the Exporters Association of Bangladesh, said the Gulshan attack would frightened the buyers and the business negotiation meetings with them might be held in the third countries in future. Abdul Matlub Ahmad, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, however, said that the Gulshan attack was not a ‘big incident’ and it would not cast any long-term impact on Bangladesh. ‘The incident is very frustrating, but more grave incidents have been taking place around the world,’ he said.
