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Black money frustrates honest businesses: AmCham chief

STAR BUSINESS REPORT
The American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh yesterday said the black money holders are forcing genuine entrepreneurs and industrialists out of business.
"The underworld of black money plays a significant role in the country's economy, depriving the government of huge revenue and making business difficult for honest people," observed AmCham President Aftab ul Islam at the chamber's monthly luncheon meeting at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel Wednesday.
It is not that businessmen alone possess the black money, Aftab said, dishonest government officials and employees also have their share of it. For instance, "hundreds of customs officers, land registration and estate officials, meter readers and police inspectors in the country have equitable shares of the invisible money," he remarked.
Prime Minister's Principal Secretary Dr Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, as the guest of honour, spoke on 'the Role of Civil Servants in Promoting Economic and Social Development' at the meeting.
Admitting that the Public Service Commission (PSC) does suffer from some inherited and accumulated problems, Siddiqui said politicisation of the PSC must
stop.
He, however, was of the opinion that the PSC is now doing much better than five years ago, adding politicisation has come down a little, though not fully.
He said, "The Public Administration Training Centre was also in a mess and situation there has also improved."
In the meeting, Aftab ul Islam also maintained that deep-rooted and bitter rivalry between the main political parties degrades democratic values and institutions, particularly the parliament. He said, "We want to see the major political parties abandon confrontational politics and reach a consensus on the critical national issues."
Rent-seeking, dodging customs duty and taxes, systems loss in electricity, gas and petroleum products, deliberately non-performing loans, corruption in public procurement and bribery are estimated to cost the country about three percent of the GDP a year, said the AmCham chief.
The bribes that people pay to corrupt officials and employees of 25 service-sector institutions account for roughly two percent of the GDP, he added.
Going into details, Islam said power outage in Bangladesh costs about one billion US dollars a year and reduce the GDP growth by
about 0.5 percent. Enterprises here experience power outage and surge on about 250 days a year. So, about 72 percent of the enterprises rely on own power generators, which cost them more than Tk 6 per kilowatt-hour, "which is nearly 50 percent more than the price of electricity bought from the national grid," he explained.
According to the AmCham president, the GDP would increase by about two percent if the demand for an additional 1,000 MW power is met.
The Chittagong Port provides another example of how poor governance is undermining the country's growth, he said, where corruption and lack of discipline slow down cargo movement and allow extortion by port workers and customs staff.
"Bangladesh could earn about 30 percent more from exports if its port inefficiencies were removed," said the business magnate.
"It is no secret that Bangladesh is now going through an interesting and challenging time," said Chargé d'Affaires of US Embassy in Dhaka Judith A Chammas, adding it is essential for the country that people's political rights are defended and exercised.