Welcome to Business Outlook
Related Articles
With the sun of the New Year 2022 rising in the east, people of Bangladesh have started looking forward to the days of progress and prosperity, leaving behind their agonies, despair and sufferings.
Recovering from the ravage caused by coronavirus pandemic, Bangladesh is all set to inaugurate some mega projects and accelerate its journey towards excellence in all fronts in the New Year.
Experts hope that the New Year, which begins Saturday, will be much better than the last two years (2020 and 2021) for Bangladesh if the country properly addresses some certain challenges.
While celebrating the golden jubilee of country’s independence and birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the outgoing year, Bangladesh was hit by corona pandemic.
Like other countries of the world, Bangladesh underwent a tough time in the last two years amid the pandemic. The country is welcoming the New Year when it is still fighting coronavirus and taking preparations to tackle its new variant Omicron.
Noted virologist Professor Dr Nazrul Islam said, “The country is likely to face a fresh corona wave in March with the rise in temperature. The number of cases will go up alarmingly in the middle of the month.”
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has rolled out plans to prevent the spread of the new variant. The government has collected required amount of vaccines to protect people from the deadly virus.
Around five crore people have already been vaccinated and the ministry has started providing booster doses. Besides, it has set up field hospitals and appointed many doctors, nurses and medical technologists.
Education is another important sector that may face huge challenge in the New Year. The government reopened educational institutions partially in the outgoing year following improvement of corona situation.
If the country’s corona situation deteriorates, all public examinations, including SSC and HSC, and university admission tests are likely to held on curtailed syllabus, according to education ministry sources.
Experts said the government has to find ways to continue education activities if even the educational institutions are closed. Suggestions of educationists and experiences of developed nations can help the country in this regard, they said.
They also said the government has to ensure equal opportunities for students belonging to poor families if classes continue online amid the closure of educational institutions.
Political arena of Bangladesh could heat up in 2022 as the next national elections are scheduled to be held in 2023. Opposition parties are conducting various programmes following improvement in corona situation and they will continue to carry out action programmes in the New Year.
President Abdul Hamid’s dialogue with the registered political parties to form the next Election Commission (EC) has already begun. If the formation of the new EC in February doesn’t in satisfy them, opposition parties will launch further programmes.
Bangladesh has introduced a number of stimulus packages and started a process in the last six months to come out of the economic shock the country suffered during the pandemic.
A number of mega projects, including the Padma Multipurpose Bridge, Metro Rail and Bangabandhu Tunnel, are expected to be inaugurated in 2022. Experts hope that if these infrastructures will change the face of Bangladesh’s economy.
Former lead economist of the World Bank Zahid Hussain said, “The Padma Bridge will increase the national GDP growth rate by 1.2 per cent and the gross product in the southwest region by 35 percent. New employment will be generated as industrialisation in the southwestern part of the country may increase with the rise in investment.”
He expressed the hope that Metro Rail in Dhaka and Bangabandhu Tunnel in Chattogram will bring out a revolutionary change in the country’s communication system and boost economy.
Zahid Hussain said Bangladesh has to continue the process of economic recovery by making supply chain management functional, find out ways to continue education-related activities to develop human resource and manage macro economy carefully.
“If the country can improve its air, water and land port management and the world doesn’t face another global recession, our economy has a fair chance to perform better. The government has to stand by the informal sector and make sure that the people who lost jobs during the pandemic can be employed again,” he said.
Zahid Hussain also laid emphasis on on handling macro economy carefully, saying the government has to remain alert to liquidity crisis, keep money exchange rate stable, control inflation, achieve credit growth and maintain reserves.
“I’m sure that if we can properly address these issues, the New Year will be much better than 2020 and 2021 for Bangladesh,” he added.
(DS)
