Infrastructural deficiency and faulty transmission capacity of gas and electricity supply were undermining the performance of all manufacturing sectors of the economy, said MCCI.
Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) made the observations in its second quarter review of the current fiscal year on Bangladesh economy, where most of the economic indicators were facing uncomfortable ride amid a gloomy global economy.
“During July-December of the current fiscal year, agriculture, manufacturing and services sectors - all performed well, but continuous government support of various types will be needed to sustain their growth,” said the MCCI.
However, infrastructure deficits and gas and power supply problems along with faulty transmission capacity were now undermining the performance of all productive sectors of the economy, the chamber added.
The government should adopt adequate steps to overcome these problems, and achieve and maintain political stability, which were essential for creating an investment-friendly climate, it urged.
Meanwhile, some economic indicators such as remittances, inflation, foreign exchange reserves are positive in December 2019.
The economy, however, faced a number of challenges on its business and fiscal fronts in recent times, even though the political atmosphere has been peaceful.
The challenges that need to be addressed properly are inflationary pressure, slower growth in the export and import, shortfall in tax collection, vulnerable banking sector, slow credit growth to the private sector, fall in the key indexes of the capital market, lack of investor confidence and a lower rate of investment specially FDI.
While remittances have kept on increasing, exchange rate remained stable and foreign exchange reserves rose to a comfortable level, it said.
In addition, the government would need to improve the country’s road, river and rail infrastructure, develop port facilities, increase power and gas production, and remove other infrastructure bottlenecks, the chamber added in its review.
