Committee seeks detailed info from central bank
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Shakhawat Hossain
A newly-formed government committee sought Wednesday details about exchange rates, reserve position and investment scenario from Bangladesh Bank to review possible impact of global financial crisis on the economy and work out plans to prevent its consequences, officials said.
The committee, headed by finance secretary Mohammad Tareque, also wanted to know the measures taken by central bank in monitoring activities of state-owned and private commercials banks.
It has asked for exchange rate related information as export oriented business, especially the garments exporters, are pressing hard for depreciation of the local currency against the greenbacks, they said.
But any chance of depreciation of local currency has already been ruled out by the BB governor due to prevailing high inflation.
The real effective exchange rate is weighted average of a basket of foreign currencies, and it can be viewed as an overall measure of the country's external competitiveness while nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) is weighed with trade weights.
The eight-member technical committee also sought information from ministries and divisions that are directly linked with the country's economic activities, said the officials.
The ministries and divisions include revenue board, commerce ministry, department of insurance, securities and exchange commission, economic relation division and planning ministry.
They are asked to provide necessary information against the backdrop of the worst ever financial meltdown globally so that it can prepare recommendations.
Finance and planning adviser Mirza Azizul Islam, who heads the national coordination council, formed the committee last week.
The committee will take instant corrective measures, if necessary, said the finance adviser.
Dr. Aziz, however, does not see any immediate threat to the economy due to the global financial crisis saying the country's banking and financial sectors are not integrated with the international financial markets.
"But it could affect the economy in the long term." he said
A newly-formed government committee sought Wednesday details about exchange rates, reserve position and investment scenario from Bangladesh Bank to review possible impact of global financial crisis on the economy and work out plans to prevent its consequences, officials said.
The committee, headed by finance secretary Mohammad Tareque, also wanted to know the measures taken by central bank in monitoring activities of state-owned and private commercials banks.
It has asked for exchange rate related information as export oriented business, especially the garments exporters, are pressing hard for depreciation of the local currency against the greenbacks, they said.
But any chance of depreciation of local currency has already been ruled out by the BB governor due to prevailing high inflation.
The real effective exchange rate is weighted average of a basket of foreign currencies, and it can be viewed as an overall measure of the country's external competitiveness while nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) is weighed with trade weights.
The eight-member technical committee also sought information from ministries and divisions that are directly linked with the country's economic activities, said the officials.
The ministries and divisions include revenue board, commerce ministry, department of insurance, securities and exchange commission, economic relation division and planning ministry.
They are asked to provide necessary information against the backdrop of the worst ever financial meltdown globally so that it can prepare recommendations.
Finance and planning adviser Mirza Azizul Islam, who heads the national coordination council, formed the committee last week.
The committee will take instant corrective measures, if necessary, said the finance adviser.
Dr. Aziz, however, does not see any immediate threat to the economy due to the global financial crisis saying the country's banking and financial sectors are not integrated with the international financial markets.
"But it could affect the economy in the long term." he said