B Mirror Report: Business leaders from Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI) Sunday met with Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur and expressed their concern over high inflation rate and reduced volume of production.

The BCI leaders led by its President Mr. Anwar-ul Alam Chowdhury (Parvez) met with Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur in a meeting at the head office at the central bank.

Mr. Parvez said the high rate of inflation coupled with mounting interest rate as well as soaring utility chares resulted low industrial output and negative sales growth.  “ It is evident that no industry is able to operate at its full capacity, production has decreased by 30-40%.,” Mr. Parvez noted.

LCs cannot be opened as per demand, credit growth in the private sector is 7.66%, gas prices are being increased for new gas connections, and tax/VAT has been increased on various products on the recommendation of the IMF, he further explained during the meeting.

The BCI President said, we do not have an exit policy, we need to have an exit policy like other countries in the world. At this time, the Honorable Governor said that we also think that there is a need for an exit policy and a committee has already been formed for this purpose. We hope that it will be possible to do it soon.

The BCI President said, it takes 9 months to 1 year after the application for cash assistance to export-oriented industries. As a result, industrial institutions are not able to meet their operation costs on time and pay their employees’ salaries. We think that the time limit for providing cash assistance should be reduced to 2 to 3 months.

The bank’s single exposure to the bank has been made funded 15 percent and non-funded 10 percent. The depreciation of the rupee is also not being taken into account here. I think it should be kept at 25 percent as before. We propose to keep the December, 2025 (SMA) classified loan period from 3 months to 6 months and SS 9 months.

Single company is a single identity, international practice is that if someone registers as a group of companies, they are seen as a group. But in our country, even if they are not registered as a group, if 3-4 directors are common, they are seen as a group. And even if a director leaves the company and gets sick somewhere else, he has to take liability. This needs a clarification.

In the current situation, the CMSE sector is facing the most losses, we have to take measures to sustain the CMSE sector. We think that a special fund and low-interest loans can be arranged for the CMSE sector. In this sector, a district or a cluster can be taken as a pilot and financed using a digital platform.

Present at the meeting were Md. Anwar Hossain, Administrator, BGMEA, Nazmul Hasan Sohel, Senior Vice President, Leathergoods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh, Md. Hasan, Managing Director, City Group, Matiur Rahman, Chairman, Uttara Motor Corporation Ltd., Abdul Haque, President, Barvida, Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, Director, BCI and Chairman, PRAN-RFL Group, Shadab Ahmed, Managing Director, Coca-Cola Bangladesh Limited, Moinul Islam Swapan, Acting President, BCMEA and Vice Chairman, Monnu Group, Preeti Chakraborty, Senior Vice President, BCI, Mohammad Yunus, Vice President, BCI, Amitabh Chakraborty, Advisor, City Group, and Md. Shahriar, President, BGAPMEA.

The Governor of Bangladesh Bank listened patiently to the BCI delegation and said, “The main goal of Bangladesh Bank now is to reduce inflation, we hope that inflation will be between 7-8% by next June. We are working to increase the flow of money to the private sector. We are recommending to reduce government spending so that we can increase the flow of money to the private sector. But deposits are not increasing, deposit growth is 7%. To increase the flow of money, deposits will have to be increased. Currently, there is no dollar crisis. The economy is normalizing but it will take some time. Our goal is to ensure that the supply system of daily necessities is not disrupted in the coming Ramadan and we are taking measures towards that end. I think we will have to go to the bond market for long-term financing, we will have to work for corporate bonds. In that case, Bangladesh Bank will provide full cooperation.” Finally, the BCI President listened patiently to everyone’s statements and thanked the Governor for explaining various issues.