B Mirror Report :  In light of political concerns ahead of the 13th national election, which is set for February 12, 2026, the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) has called for sensible, timely, and effective economic measures to protect Bangladesh’s economic momentum in 2026.

Given that political stability is essential to long-term economic recovery and investment growth, the DCCI urged the interim government, political parties, and other pertinent stakeholders to guarantee a peaceful, inclusive, and credible election process.

According to a news release, the Dhaka Chamber thinks that a stable political climate both during and after the election period will increase the trust of foreign investors and local business owners.

The DCCI urged the government to prioritize improving the general state of law and order, guaranteeing a steady and reasonably priced supply of energy to industries, improving ease of doing business, lowering the cost of doing business, and strengthening infrastructure and policy frameworks to draw in both domestic and foreign investment in order to expedite economic recovery in 2026.

The DCCI also emphasized the creation of a competent workforce to support the process, improved access to financing for CMSMEs, targeted support for promising export industries, and export diversification.

The DCCI reiterated the need for a long-term, predictable energy pricing policy, alongside accelerated gas exploration, diversification of energy import sources, and the expansion of long-term energy supply agreements.

The DCCI suggested that currency swap can be considered on a priority basis for essential import payments side by side, enhanced incentives for remittance inflows are necessary to stabilize foreign exchange reserves. At the same time, fiscal discipline, improved project implementation efficiency, reduced reliance on bank borrowings and good governance are essential to ease liquidity pressure in the financial sector.

The DCCI also noted that excessive government borrowing from the banking sector could shrink private-sector credit growth. This tendency also contracts the investment and employment growth of the local manufacturing and CMSMEs.

The Dhaka Chamber also underscored the importance of full automation of revenue management, modernization of tax laws, expansion of the tax base and strict measures to prevent harassment of compliant taxpayers.

The DCCI emphasized the necessity of thorough economic preparation as Bangladesh continues to move away from LDC status. The Chamber called for increased efforts to sign Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with important trading partners and regional economic blocs in order to maintain export growth in the post-LDC era. This will increase market access and lessen risks associated to tariffs.

In order to sustain economic growth in 2026, the DCCI also thinks that export diversification, uninterrupted industrial manufacturing, stronger local industries, modern infrastructure, skilled human resources, technological advancement, expansion of backward linkage industries, and sensible tax and tariff reforms will be important factors.