publicly blacklisting wilful defaulters and restricting their travel. Furthermore, asset quality reviews (AQR) must be standardised using international firms across all banks to ensure consistency. To activate the capital market, single-borrower exposure should be capped at 10 per cent of a bank’s capital, forcing large corporations to seek diverse funding. Ultimately, reducing NPLs from their current crisis levels to international standards depends on unwavering political will to punish defaulters without exception, regardless of their status or influence.

AMRITA ISLAM

Deputy Managing Director

Picard Bangladesh Ltd

Addressing the “jobless growth” phenomenon is critical right now for a nation of 178 million, especially as tertiary unemployment has surged to 13.5 per cent. Export diversification, particularly in the footwear and leather goods sector, offers “low-hanging fruit” to mitigate economic vulnerability, yet progress is stalled by glaring policy discrepancies. Unlike the garment industry, other export sectors lack the authority to issue their own utilisation and export permits, forcing a reliance on bureaucratic hurdles at the NBR. Furthermore, while competitors like Vietnam require only eight licenses to start a factory, Bangladesh remains uncompetitive with twenty-three. To capture the investment shifting away from high-capacity neighbours like Cambodia, the government must prioritise technology transfer and FDI. Transforming the demographic dividend into a genuine asset requires a “jobs-first” approach that moves beyond rhetoric to implement specific logistical and regulatory reforms, ensuring that the cost and speed of doing business no longer hold back industrial expansion.

A K M FAHIM MASHROOR

Chief Executive Officer

Bdjobs.com Limited

Migration must be recognised as the nation’s largest industry, contributing 15 per cent to the national income and providing double the net foreign reserves of the garment sector. Despite being the economy’s lifeline, the banking sector has failed to invest in this industry, even though it offers a high return on investment with a short payback period of eighteen months. Given domestic constraints like energy shortages that hinder large-scale manufacturing job creation, the most viable “low-hanging fruit” for employment is sending 3 to 4 million people abroad within the next three years. This strategy should shift focus from the Middle East to high-demand markets like Japan, China, and Europe. To succeed, banks must provide direct loans to students and workers for language training and education abroad. Sending younger individuals for technical training in these developed markets will ensure a sustainable flow of remittances and long-term economic stability.

MIRZA NURUL GHANI SHOVON

President

National Association of Small & Cottage Industries of Bangladesh (NASCIB)

To drive widespread employment, the government must prioritise industrialisation at the grassroots, district, and village levels. Essential institutions such as the SME Foundation, BSCIC, and the National Skills Development Authority (NSDA) currently lack the necessary strength and require significant reinforcement to be effective. Reintroducing district-specific credit programmes, modelled after successful 1990s initiatives, is vital to provide small entrepreneurs with accessible financing. Furthermore, nearly 3,000 registered Skills Training Providers (STP) centres should be utilised for long-term skills development, while loan interest rates for small businesses must be brought down to single digits. Addressing non-performing loans requires a national or regional verification committee involving diverse stakeholders, rather than just bankers, to distinguish between wilful defaulters and those failing due to systemic issues. Ultimately, creating millions of jobs depends on a unified national political commitment where both the government and opposition align on a shared economic vision for the country’s development.

SYED ALMAS KABIR

Former President

Bangladesh Association of Software & Information Services (BASIS)

Bangladesh’s long-standing economic reliance on cheap labour, particularly in the RMG and freelance sectors, must transition toward a high-skill, value-added model to survive the challenges of LDC graduation and automation. Implementing a national strategy for reskilling workers displaced by AI and robotics is critical, alongside fostering indigenous Intellectual Property (IP) through incentivised R&D and industry-academia collaboration. The IT sector offers an ideal path for diversification due to its low overhead and potential for female empowerment, yet it requires robust soft and hard infrastructure. Effective digitalisation across government agencies, especially the NBR, hinges on structured change management and dedicated budgets for software rather than just hardware. Furthermore, prioritising local value addition in state projects and refining FDI policies to ensure knowledge transfer is essential. Strengthening the startup ecosystem through improved Venture Capital policies and expanding digital market access for SMEs will further solidify the economic backbone, while exploring innovative green energy like wave power can ensure sustainable growth.

MAHMUD HASAN KHAN (BABU)

President

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA)

The current government’s initial focus on deregulation and accessibility offers a positive trajectory for addressing long-standing systemic hurdles. A primary concern involves the formulation of policies without adequate stakeholder engagement, often exacerbated by a rigid bureaucratic mindset. To foster a sustainable industrial environment, policies must remain consistent, preventing the common issue where sudden regulatory shifts undermine new investments. Enhancing the “ease of doing business” is directly linked to reducing the “cost of doing business,” particularly regarding NBR-related complexities. Furthermore, expanding benefits like Free of Cost (FOC) raw material imports to all export sectors, not just garments, is essential for true export diversification and foreign reserve growth. To improve the tax-to-GDP ratio, implementing district-level tax collection targets could bring wealthy individuals outside major cities into the tax net, provided local trade bodies are democratically elected to avoid regional oligarchies. Finally, the decision to seek LDC graduation deferment is a strategic necessity, providing a critical window to negotiate essential bilateral agreements to ensure long-term economic resilience.

SHAMS MAHMUD

Former President, DCCI

Honorary Consul, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

The immediate priority for the government must be renegotiating GSP terms, as the reduction in export thresholds and the 6 per cent single-country origin cap pose significant threats to the garments sector after LDC graduation. To mitigate these detriments, the focus should shift toward securing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and deeper regional supply chain integration with ASEAN and India. Furthermore, a government-managed long-term fund is necessary to facilitate double-stage transformation, bypassing the collateral bottlenecks of private banking. Structural reforms in energy security, logistics, specifically removing navy-led chemical testing delays, and establishing direct shipping routes are critical for maintaining efficiency. Finally, the investment climate requires a shift from a “poverty-alleviation” mindset to an investment-seeking one, prioritising joint ventures over standalone FDI, reforming the tax incidence on AIT, and stabilising the volatile stock market to build investor confidence.

SHAFIQUL ALAM

Lead Energy Analyst

Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)

The current energy crisis in Bangladesh is primarily a result of an import-dependent strategy that now sees 62 per cent of primary fuel sourced from volatile global markets. With crude oil and spot LNG prices climbing, the government faces a severe fiscal bottleneck, making supply rationing and load-shedding an inevitable short-term outcome. To navigate this, the immediate priority must be clearing the massive payment backlog to sustain industrial activity while embedding energy conservation into national behaviour to prevent “rebound effects.” While IMF pressure to adjust tariffs persists, further price hikes risk making local industries non-competitive against regional rivals like Vietnam. Instead of just raising prices, the focus should shift to systemic efficiency and reallocating it to the productive sector. Long-term stability requires shifting toward regional hydropower cooperation and setting realistic renewable targets, supported by a significant shift in budgetary allocation toward domestic gas exploration rather than just power generation.