Govt to do more for private sector

The government is committed to doing more for the private sector to enable it to help Bangladesh turn into an upper-middle-income and a developed economy within the country's set deadlines, said Planning Minister MA Mannan.

"The government will do more so that the private sector can exploit its full potential and play its leading role in the economy, thus helping the country tap its full potential," he said.

"Our government is ready for business. We are a business-friendly government."

The minister made the comments while speaking as the chief guest at the Bangladesh Business Awards 2022 at the Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel in Dhaka on September 2.

He said the economy can't reach its full potential on the basis of the government's efforts alone.

"We need friends. We need friends in the neighbourhood. We need friends all over the world."

In his speech, the minister congratulated the winners of the awards.

He also thanked the organisers of the event -- DHL Express and The Daily Star -- for continuing the initiative for the last 20 years.

He backed The Daily Star Editor and Publisher Mahfuz Anam's account of the stellar economic development of Bangladesh in the last two decades, particularly in the last 15 years, calling it objective and factual.

In his speech at the event, Mahfuz Anam said Bangladesh's GDP grew from $40 billion in 2000 to $465 billion in 2022 in a highly competitive world and clocked a 6.15 per cent GDP growth annually, on average, in the last 15 years.

Exports surged from $5.7 billion to over $52 billion, and remittance flow jumped from $1.2 billion to $22 billion during the period, he said.

"But we can't be complacent. We need to work harder," Mannan said.

He said business people are working harder at home and delivering goods abroad. Similarly, migrant workers have gone abroad and are toiling and sending their fortunes home.

"Because of the labour of the hard-working people, our fortune has changed. But we are not there as yet. We would like to be an upper-middle-income country by 2031, and by 2041, our ambition is to become a developed country."

Mannan said that thanks to the higher economic growth momentum, Bangladesh should be a trillion-dollar economy by 2041 or even earlier.

There are other ambitions for the government as well.

"The government has the ambition to establish a sustainable, civilised and scientifically-oriented modern society," he said.

He thinks a peaceful and stable environment is the most important requirement for working people.

"We want to contribute to building a global environment where stability and peace reign supreme so that people everywhere, including in Bangladesh, can work in peace and contribute to the global economy."

"Our ambitions and hopes are very reasonable and real."

The minister congratulated both the winners of the awards and those who could not win since they are the people who are bringing changes in Bangladesh and creating a better future for the country.

"The future even looks far better compared to what we had in the past."