Restore order for enhancing private-sector investment

Economists and policy specialists called for creating conditions congenial Sunday to accelerating the private-sector investment for advancing growth of all other segments in the country.
Ensuring law and order and "depoliticising" the institutions are among the factors that could pave the way for enhancing private investment, they said, as the finance minister himself, a day before, indicated a slowdown in such investment.                      
They were speaking at the concluding plenary session of a two-day conference arranged by Bangladesh Economists' Forum (BEF) at a city hotel.
Moderated by Mohiuddin Alamgir, former president of Bangladesh Economic Association, the plenary session was addressed, among others, by Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, PKSF chairman, Mohammad Farashuddin, former Bangladesh Bank Governor, Mirza Azizul Islam, former adviser of Caretaker Government, Azizur Rahman Khan, Professor Emeritus, and Sadiq Ahmed, vice chairman of Policy Research Institute.
Mirza Azizul Islam emphasised accelerating private-sector investment and ensuring good law-and-order situation for boosting the country's development and growth.
In this connection, Mr Islam also stressed the need for giving attention of the government to expenditure in a number of sectors that include infrastructure, energy and power, health and education, poverty alleviation, social safety net, food security and climate change.
Different institutions of the country "must be strengthened and depoliticized" for ensuring effective and efficient expenditure and reducing corruption, he told the function.
Calling for consensus on different economic issues, Mr Farashuddin said that the BEF could create pressure on the two major political parties so that they came onto a platform on the economic issues. Political consensus now became a border economic issue, he said.
Mr Farashuddin also underlined the need for increasing private-sector investment and turning the country's youths into human resources for sustainable development.
About the debates over GDP growth, the former central bank governor said, "Six percent growth is nothing." It should be double-digit one.
Mr Azizur Rahman Khan said that the agriculture sector should receive necessary supports from government. It should not be protected, rather be developed.
Mr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad underscored the need for effective democratic decentralisation up to the rural level.
There is progress in law regarding the democratic decentralisation up to the upazila level, but not in implementation of the law, he said.
Mentioning that an NGO identified about 1000 business clusters in the country, the economist urged the government to provide necessary supports, including short-term loan at low interest and storing facilities, to the entrepreneurs in all the clusters.
Echoing the opinion of an earlier discussant at the conference, he also laid stress on ensuring nutrition security of the people, in addition to their food security.
Started on Saturday under the theme 'Vision 2030: A Framework for Economic Policymaking and Strategy Formulation in a Pluralistic Democracy', the two-day conference was concluded with the plenary session Sunday.
Top policymakers, lawmakers, leading economists, business leaders, bankers, representatives of diplomatic and donor communities and leading development specialists attended the conference.
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Policy Research Institute (PRI) and Bangladesh Bank (BB) supported the meet while the Association of Bankers Bangladesh Limited (ABB), HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank were event partners.