ZAHID HUSSAIN

As Bangladesh Bank prepares its next Monetary Policy Statement, expected by the end of June, one question looms over the entire exercise: should the policy rate remain at 10 percent, or is it time to begin easing?

Under normal circumstances, the answer might be straightforward. Growth has slowed, private credit expansion has weakened, and businesses are increasingly vocal about the cost of borrowing. Yet, the economy is not facing a normal slowdown. It is simultaneously dealing with elevated inflation, rising energy costs, and renewed uncertainty in global fuel markets.

The debate is therefore not simply about interest rates. It is about how policymakers should respond when a country already burdened by domestic inefficiencies is hit by a genuine external energy shock.

When electricity or fuel prices rise in Bangladesh, most people do not see an economic adjustment. They see a bill for someone else’s mistakes.