Commerce minister Tofail Ahmed on Sunday said that the government was mulling over more benefits for the country’s readymade garment sector so that the sector could remain competitive in the global market as the worker wages increased by 51 per cent but the prices of apparel products remained unchanged in the international markets for a couple of years.‘The government has already reduced the source tax for the RMG sector to 0.60 per cent from 1 per cent and the prime minister has discussed with me how the government can provide more support to the sector as the workers’ minimum wages increased to Tk 8,000 from the existing Tk 5,300,’ the minister said while addressing a dialogue titled ‘Policy Framework for post-LCD Graduation of Bangladesh: Business Perspective’.The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Friedrich Naumann Foundation jointly organised the event at the Sonargaon Hotel in the capital.Tofail said that Bangladesh was capable to face the challenges of graduation from the least developed country to a developing one.‘We are encouraging export of non-traditional items and this year the government has provided cash incentive to nine new products including plastic, motorcycle and furniture,’ he said.The commerce minister said that the government led by prime minister Sheikh Hasina was business friendly, labour friendly and pro-people.He said that Bangladesh progressed in all economic indicators but the country lagged behind in the area of ease of doing business.‘If people vote us to power for next term, the score of Bangladesh in the ease of doing business will come down under 100 from the existing 127,’ Tofail said.Former Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman presented the keynote paper in the event and emphasised export diversification and job creation to face the challenges of LDC graduation. He said that there was huge potential in the South Asian market for finding new export destination as the regional economy represented a market of 1.7 billion people.‘If Bangladesh can grab only one per cent of the total Indian import, our export to India will increase by $4 billion in the market,’ Atiur said.He said for attaining double digit growth and reducing the poverty level to zero, Bangladesh needed to create 1.6 million jobs annually until 2020.Atiur also said that the trade war between the US and China had created new opportunity for Bangladesh and China’s giving away its RMG export share would open up gigantic opportunities.Nazneen Ahmed, senior research fellow of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, emphasised the development of small and medium enterprises and women entrepreneurship in the country.She said that skill was very important for economic growth and the government would have to ensure skill development curriculum in line with the business.Abul Kalam Azad, principal coordinator of the SDG affairs at the Prime Minister Office, said that the government was interested to reserve 10 per cent of special economic zones for woman entrepreneurs.Citing a recent report of McKinsey, he said that China would lose its first position in the global RMG export and it would be possible for Bangladesh to be number one.FBCCI president Md Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin said that as per the wish of the prime minister, the RMG exporters accepted Tk 8,000 as the minimum wages of the workers but the sector would lose its competitive edge due to the 51 per cent hike in the wages.The government should think more about the competitiveness of private sector; otherwise it would be difficult for the country to achieve the sustainable development goals, he added.
