Daily Bangla Times : Businessmen and entrepreneurs want subsidy for a few more days instead of adjusting the price of fuel in order to cope with the pressure of inflation and survive in the ongoing global situation. Yesterday Saturday, the leaders of the organization raised these points in an open discussion with journalists organized by the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI). Md Saiful Islam, President of MCCI, Vice President Habibullah N Karim, Secretary General Farooq Ahmad and others were present at this time.

The MCCI president said that the government has recently announced that it will not give any subsidy on fuel on the advice of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) due to the pressure of inflation. The prices will be adjusted quarterly if not monthly with international prices. But the epidemic is not over in the world yet. The Russia-Ukraine war is ongoing. In this situation, if the fuel subsidy is removed, the businessmen of the country will be under pressure, the production cost will increase. The ability to compete will decrease. So we want now i.e. this year the subsidy should be continued without adjusting the price of fuel. He said that after the next four years, when we will pass from the least developed countries (LDC), many opportunities in trade will be taken away, then it cannot be sustained with subsidies. Then the government has to provide policy support to sustain us.

Complaining that the bank is not able to open letter of credit or LC in an emergency, he said, there is no ban on importing raw materials for production of products from Bangladesh Bank, but we are not able to open LC as easily as before. Because the necessary dollar support is not able to provide. So it still takes a lot of time to open LC for import of raw materials. Regarding NBR's harassment, the MCCI leader said that the field revenue officer decides the fate of a businessman. The goodwill of the government and NBR to help the businessmen is not there at the field level anymore. So we have always suggested automation to eliminate hassles in the revenue sector. But even though this claim has been for a long time, it has not been implemented yet. So the suffering did not decrease.

MCCI president also said that we have improved in several indicators even in Corona. In the current financial year 2022-23, the export target has been fixed at 57 billion US dollars. Already in the first seven months (July-January) 32.45 billion dollars have been exported. If this continues, the export will be 60 billion dollars in this financial year. About the ready-made clothes, he said, the ready-made clothes sector is increasing the revenue of the country's export sector. In the first seven months of the current financial year, the export growth in the garment sector has been 14.40 percent. Apart from this, currently, the garment sector of the country is exporting 4.46 million dollars per month. However, exports should not be solely dependent on ready-made garments. He also said that there is no alternative to export diversification to increase export income.

Due to the increase in defaulted loans, the crisis in the financial sector has arisen. When asked what is the status of MCCI regarding the defaulters, the vice-president of the organization Habibullah N Karim said that we are not on the side of the defaulters. I have discussed many times with the government and related organizations about how to reduce defaulted loans. We do not want waiver of defaulted loans.