State Minister for Planning, Dr Shamsul Alam stated that diversifying the export basket is essential to avoid dependency on a single export item.
He also stated the five-year plan on focusing on export diversification is coming along well.
"Recently, the export income of one billion or more dollars has come from industries such as leather, jute, medicine, and electronics. But, yes, there is potential for additional work here," he continued.
Regarding the report, he said that export diversification has been emphasized here and the government also has a plan in this regard.
“Besides RMG, other sectors should also be given importance. We are also working to attract FDI not only on capital but also on technology and skills,” he added.
In terms of budget discussion, he stated that budget debate in the National Parliament should be more than a month.
“There are various issues of the budget, which can be discussed in more detail. I think the budget discussion can be started in mid-May instead of limiting it to one month. If there is a directive from the Parliament in this regard, the National Revenue Board will prepare accordingly,” he added.
He also said that the country's tax-GDP ratio needs to be increased.
Stating the need to reform the tax policy to increase revenue, he said that there needs to be more discussion on tax policy.
“The tax-GDP ratio in the country is low. There should be a discussion about the tariff being high in some places. The revenue deficit is usually within 5% but this time it should not be above 6% even if it increases,” he added.
In response to the questions of the journalists, the state minister said that if the IMF gives any condition, it is not that Bangladesh is bound to accept it
“What is needed for our economic reforms is being taken with scrutiny. They are our allies. We are working with them as per our need,” he added.
Zaidi Sattar, chairman of the Policy Research Institute (PRI), said that global inflationary pressures exist due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
“Moreover, the rivalry between the USA and China has also affected international trade. In such a situation, there is no alternative to diversify Bangladesh's exports to keep the economy moving in the right direction,” he added.
To give importance to the global value chain as well as the regional value chain, he said that then there will be benefits in terms of exports and FDI will also come.
He also said that the ADB research is very good and integrated research with adequate findings.
“I think the efficiency comes out of international trade and globalization,” he added.
He also said that global value chain integration is driven by the theory of comparison. So, it's a real extension of the original ideas of the classical economists.
At the event, Albert F Park, ADB's Chief Economist, Mahinthan J Mariasingham, ADB's Senior Statistician, and Pramila A Crivelli, ADB's Economist, presented keynote and presentation at the event.
The presentation said that although the economic development of Bangladesh is good, the country's exportable products are quite low.
Due to the low-value addition of these products, it is quite challenging to bring about major changes in the country's economy.
In that case, Bangladesh can work to attract FDI in other productive sectors than the garment industry, the keynote suggested.
The keynote also suggested enlarging the export sector by including leather, ICT, and pharmaceutical sectors which can find large export markets and ADB expects Bangladesh's digital manufacturing sector exports to increase in the future.
Areef Suelman, director of the Islamic Development Bank Institute also spoke at the event while Edimon Ginting, country director of ADB in Bangladesh marked welcome remarks and Sharifa Khatun, secretary of ERD, Ministry of Finance, marked opening remarks.
