Two Eids see $12b domestic trade

The World Bank has calculated for the first a strong retail trade of 10 to 12 billion US dollars in Bangladesh during the last two Eid festivals, as higher domestic demand coupled with a relative political calm paid off in economic terms.     

There are a number of festivals celebrated across the country-a part from Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha-when also business activities find a boom time. But this is for the first time ever a figure was calculated for the Eid times when the highest internal trading takes place in the country.

Zahid Hussain, the lead economist in the World Bank's South Asia Finance and Poverty group, disclosed the rough estimation based on the trade volume claimed by two major business operators during the two Eids.

Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha are the two biggest festivals in the country when trade in mainly clothes, shoes, jewelry, foods, animals etc. take place.

After the Eid-ul-Fitr, Dokan Malik Samity at a press conference Tuesday claimed Tk 550 billion sales and buys of goods had taken place.

And during the last Eid-ul-Azha, 10 million sacrificial animals like cows, goats, lambs etc were estimated to have been traded.

The chief economist said the WB had tried to accumulate the trade volume and numbers of sacrificial animals traded, averaging a price, and figured out the strong retail sales worth $10 to $12 billion.

Presenting the latest economic update, he pointed out the MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence which increased 15.9 percent in the first six months this year from the last six months of last year.

"It is a back up of envelope estimation but increase of the percentage in the MasterCard Worldwide Index, which is done globally, matches with the strong retail sales during the two Eids," Mr Zahid told the FE over phone.

Though trade during the Eid-ul-Fitr is centered around the buy and sell of clothes, shoes, jewelry and foods, a high-volume trade in some other items like home appliances, ticket purchasing, tourism are also found to be on the increase.

Centering the Eid-ul-Azha fiesta, the highest trade is going on in buy and sell of sacrificial animals and skins. But demand for electronic goods like refrigerator, micro-woven also goes high.

A BSS report said the World Bank (WB) would resume budget support to Bangladesh.

WB country director Jonathan Zutt conveyed the offer Tuesday while speaking at the launch of the "Bangladesh Development Update" at his Dhaka office.

He said the matter was briefly discussed on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group, held early this month in Washington, DC

Zutt said there had been communications in few times between the WB and the finance ministry to proceed towards extending the support.

Earlier, Finance Minister AMA Muhith told journalists that the government would seek $500 million as budget support from the global lender.

Earlier, the WB provided Bangladesh with budgetary support in 2008 for deficit financing of the national budget as the country was devastated by cyclone and recurring flooding in 2007.

Referring to the annual meeting, Zutt said there was discussion about financing large-scale projects in Bangladesh, which would include bigger power plants.

Responding to a question, he said Ebola has appeared as a global threat and the WB already responded with necessary supports to fight against it.

He said the response of Bangladesh government against Ebola was also time-befitting and effective.

Zutt said the success of eradicating Ebola by Nigeria set an example that the deadly disease could be eliminated even by a country where health system is not strong enough compared to the developed nations.

smunima@yahoo.com