Bangladesh News

Bangladesh Country Representative of Asian Development Bank (ADB) Hua Du yesterday said that the country’s economy has been badly affected by the recurring political conflicts.
“Confrontation between the two major political parties has been affecting the economy,” she said speaking at a lunch meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Bangladesh.

She said she hopes the country however will tide over the difficult time ahead and there will be a smooth and peaceful transition of power to the elected government

“We have noted that the political situation is becoming increasingly confrontational in the lead-up to the next general election. An integral part of the democratic system, elections should not interfere with the country’s development and the regular business activities,” she told the meet held at Hotel Sheraton.

The ADB country representative appreciated the economic progress that Bangladesh has made over the last one decade. She observed that the country has the ability to develop fast by seeing off the challenges it faces.

Developing infrastructure, introducing quality education and ensuring good governance are the major challenges confronting the economy, Du said adding that the ADB will continue to assist Bangladesh in realising its full potential.

Weak governance continues to get in the way of faster growth and poverty reduction, she pointed out and added that the Anti-Corruption Commission should be made fully operational to boost both domestic and external confidence in it.

Du said the ADB is playing a major role in energy, transport, education and integrated urban development in line with its present country strategy and programme.

She noted that despite some progress the power sector continues to falter due mainly to high systems losses, inadequate supply capacity, weak financial management, large payment arrears and the absence of a pricing policy to recover operational costs.

According to her, Bangladesh is still considered a low-income country with a per capita income of only $482. The social development challenges remain to be daunting while maternal and child mortality rates are still high.

In spite of an overall improvement, the quality of education is still poor while gender discrimination continues in many areas.

“Poor infrastructure, weak governance and limited access to finance make the cost of doing business high,” she said.

AmCham President Andrew L Fawthrop and USAID Country Director Gene V George also spoke on the occasion. AmCham Executive Director A Gafur was present among others.

Hua Du told the meeting that the ADB has undertaken a number of infrastructure development programmes in collaboration with other donor agencies including Japan Bank of International Co-operation (JBIC).

Implementation of the project aimed at railway sector development including setting up a double track railway line between Dhaka and Chittagong would take over $800 million in phases, she told the journalists.

The ADB representative said she expects the projects to get the nod from Ecnec shortly.

The macroeconomic and social development achievements of the country have been quite impressive, she said adding that health and education indicators have improved, gender parity has been achieved in primary and secondary education and poverty incidence has steadily declined.