Zero tolerance to corruption, quality implementation of the mega infrastructure projects and lower cost of business should be the priority of the new government in the New Year, top industry leaders said on Monday.
After the "unprecedented" election victory in the Sunday's polls, people's expectations from the Awami League-led government has risen manifold, Shafiul Islam, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), told the FE.
In the last 10 years, the country has achieved notable development and now it has to focus more on areas where it lags behind, he added.
In its election manifesto, the Awami League has promised to fight corruption, Mr Shafiul said, expressing the hope the new government will be vigilant and will take effective and visible steps to curb corruption.
Referring to the World Bank's 'Ease of doing business' index, he said Bangladesh ranks 176th in the index, which needs to be improved.
"Effective measures should be taken to remove the bottlenecks and reduce harassment that the businesses face. One-stop services should be made truly effective so that one does not need to move from one place to another while doing business."
"If a decision can be taken in two or three days why should we wait for it for months? So the officials concerned should also be made accountable and help remove red-tapes," the FBCCI president noted.
He added the government's aim to create 10 million new employment will be possible when these obstacles are removed.
"AL has implemented 76 per cent of its last election manifesto, we hope this time the implementation rate will be over 90 per cent," he said.
Listing the lending rate reduction a crucial issue, he urged the government to take quick steps in 2019.
"The private sector meets the lion's share of the national budget. So, the private sector's growth would automatically boost the GDP growth, which in turn would help fulfil the vision of the government to make Bangladesh a middle income country by 2021" he said.
Commenting on businesses expectations from the new government, president of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( MCCI ), Dhaka Barrister Nihad Kabir stressed the need for curbing corruption, reducing the cost of doing business, ensuring good governance and quality implementation of mega projects.
She congratulated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on being re-elected and said before the election "we have made it clear that businesses want the continuation of the development spree that took place during the past two tenures of her government."
Since the Prime Minister has been elected for the fourth term, she expressed the hope that the pace of growth would further be accelerated, the MCCI chief said.
Referring to the election manifesto of the Awami League, she said it has promised to ensure three things including zero tolerance to corruption, creating responsive public administration and ensuring good governance.
"All these three issues are crucial to putting the country towards the desired growth trajectory, which will lead us to achieve the much-expected Vision 2021".
"I firmly believe that prime minister Sheikh Hasina with her experience to run the country for three terms will be able to fulfil these promises," the MCCI president said. "She has the vision and the commitment to do so."
She also noted the problems that impede the growth of the businesses have already been identified and apart from two or three, all these problems can be resolved by three or six months.
"We hope that the new government will concentrate on resolving these problems in the New Year through taking practical measures."
In this regard, Ms Kabir emphasised quality implementation of mega projects and urged the new government to focus on strengthening the project monitoring mechanism.
She suggested involvement of the private sector in the project monitoring process.
Businesses and people would not get the due dividend of these mega projects if those could not be implemented in time, he argued.
Services in ports, airports and transport sector should also get priority, the MCCI president noted.
BGMEA president Siddiqur Rahman said the landslide victory was the outcome of the people's confidence in the present government led by Sheikh Hasina.
After this massive victory, people from both home and abroad would be more confident in investing in Bangladesh, which would ultimately generate more employment, he added.
He said the immediate priority of the new government in the New Year should be reducing lending rate, completing the mega projects and curb corruption.
"In recent times, the capacity of our ports has improved a lot but businesses still face problem while dealing with the Customs as well as with the NBR," he said.
Despite having a steady growth, the economy of the country in the last calendar year was under pressure due to balance of payments deficit, rising NPL and weak local currency. These factors are taking a toll on the macroeconomic health of the country.
On the other hand, the economy has some positive sides; continuity of higher economic growth with lower rate of inflation. Besides, exports receipts and remittances inflow were buoyant during the year 2018.
Exports income was satisfactory in the year as shipment grew more than 17 per cent.
