The overall economy has been improving for the past six months, but worker unrests, inflation and fragile banking sector still pose risks, according to a Finance Division report released on Sunday.
The interim government led by Muhammad Yunus assumed power on August 8, 2024, three days after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina-led government amid a mass uprising against her 15 years of authoritarian rule.
Risks of the deterioration in the overall economic situation in the wake of regime change have been checked because of prudent monetary and revenue policies over the past six months, said the report submitted at a meeting presided over by the chief adviser at his Tejgaon office in the capital Dhaka.
Yunus instructed that individuals involved in bank robberies and those facing specific allegations against them must be brought to justice as soon as possible, said the chief adviser鈥檚 press secretary, Shafiqul Alam, at a post-meeting briefing at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital.
The meeting took stock of the country鈥檚 economy over the past six months.
The economy is recovering due to various measures taken by the interim government, said the press secretary adding that exports had increased by 10 per cent over the past five months.
The Finance Division report said that signs of improvement in the overall economy were visible as the inflation rate was falling from 10 per cent and was expected to come down to 8 per cent in June.
Noting that the external side is also signalling improvements, the report recommended overcoming flaws in the supply chain management to revive the economic activities across the board.
The report titled 鈥楤angladesh economy: recent development and tasks ahead鈥� feared that worker unrests in the industrial sector and the scam-hit financial sector still posed risks.
It recommended clearing the payment of workers by selling the closed factories of BEXIMCO and the joint monitoring by police and intelligence agencies to check spill-over of the worker unrests.
The report also laid importance on bringing back discipline in the financial sector, especially the banking sector facing risks because of mismanagement by the past Awami League regime and ballooning non-performing loans.
Ten banks are at serious risks, said the report without naming the banks.
The report recommended providing liquidity supports to problem banks to enhance the confidence of depositors.
It also recommended making law department of banks powerful so that looted money of the banks could be recovered.
Recommending bolstering international efforts for bringing back the money stolen during the AL regime, the report suggested the continuation of monitoring of the trade-based letters of credit.
The report also focused on the country鈥檚 food and energy sectors, highlighting the steps taken in the past six months.
To ensure food security, the decision on importing additional nine million tonnes of grain has been made in the wake of 13 million tonnes less production of aus and aman than the estimate due to two rounds of flood.
For maintenance of the country鈥檚 energy security, the report said that the budgetary subsidy in the current budget had been increased to Tk聽62,000 crore from Tk聽40,000 crore to clear the arrears on power and gas.
The report recommended the automation of incomes and value-added-tax to generate more revenue to pull up the falling tax-GDP ratio to 8 per cent.
