The government has taken an initiative to rationalise or review barriers, including non-tariff barriers, that are hindering the expansion of US business in Bangladesh.
“We will rationalise the non-tariff barriers that the US business people are facing; we will rationalise those as soon as possible,” Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed told reporters after holding an inter-ministerial meeting at his Bangladesh Secretariat office.
He also said the government will streamline the process to facilitate trade and commerce between Bangladesh and the United States.
The adviser said that during the meeting, they discussed in detail the course of action from the government.
“Firstly, we have taken a decision that we will increase our trade and commerce with the US. For that, if we need to import necessary items from the US, we will do that,” he said.
He also said the government will look after that the competitiveness of RMG and other items that are exported to the US market remain competitive comparing to the other competitors.
“We will try to increase efficiency of the private sector, we can import various types of services from the US,” he said.
The adviser said the government has taken the necessary steps to engage with the United States authorities over the new tariffs imposed by Washington.
“The impact of the new US tariffs on the economy will not be difficult to manage. The government is hopeful that a positive outcome will emerge from the discussions,” he said.
Salehuddin also noted that commodity prices were stable during Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr, bringing some sort of relief to the public.
“This year, people had a good Eid. In March alone, the country received $3 billion in remittances, which helped boost the foreign exchange reserves,” he added.
The finance adviser said the country’s overall economic situation is showing signs of improvement, supported by the rising inflow of foreign currency.
Meanwhile, Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin said that during the meeting, they came to a consensus on some specific proposals.
Bashir said: “We will conduct our next course as per the proposals; we are taking steps to review the non-tariff barriers, which will facilitate the trade between the two countries."
Planning Adviser Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud said big economies like China and European countries will take countermeasures against the tariff hike by the Trump administration.
“We do not know at what point this will stand at the last, there is no doubt that economy of the whole world will get a shake,” he said.
He said the government will consider everything while making any decision.
“Initially, we are thinking to improve the competitiveness of the RMG sector, which has a big market in the US to compete with other competitors, and we think that we can do that,” he said.
The adviser mentioned that due to the hike, the burden will be on the consumers and the buying houses.
“To determine the burden on us, we have to depend on the negotiations that we will do,” he said.
Wahiduddin said there is no scope to reduce the wages of workers.
“The burden of the extra taxes has to be shifted on other side; we can not put any extra burden on that (workers’ wages),” he said.
He also hoped that the policy makers in the US will understand the matter.
“They also know it very well, from our side, we do not have any scope to reduce the wages of the workers,” he said.
