S Asian countries must think for enhancing regional coop to curb inflation

Staff Reporter :
South Asian countries must think for enhancing regional cooperation to curb inflation as Covid-19 pandemic induced economic slowdown disrupted the global supply chains which was further aggravated by the Russia-Ukrainian war, speakers have said.
They said that unexploited regional trade potentials for Bangladesh still remains to be as high as 93 percent and the countries need to invest more on improving regional connectivity to tap the potentials, they said.
They said world’s economies have been experiencing inflation from the high supply of liquidity, resulted in rapid increases in commodity prices, especially prices of fuel, crops and fertilizers.
These have created critical challenges for macroeconomic management in developing and emerging economies, they said at a conference of South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) at a city hotel on Saturday.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said, “We need to boot up our trade among the countries in this region to sustain the development growth and the regional connectivity is a must.”
“There is no shortage of rationale for increasing regional trade cooperation among South Asian countries. Trades among these countries have been steadily increasing especially over the last decade,” said former Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman.
But, the growth has a much slower pace than the true potential, he said.
He further said the trade among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal increased by six times between 2015 and 2019.
“But still unexploited regional trade potentials for Bangladesh remains to be as high as 93 per cent and South Asian countries need to invest more on improving regional connectivity to tap the potentials,” he suggested.
Prof Dr Javed Siddiqui, Alliance Manchester Business School – Accounting and Finance division in UK, said that Bangladesh corporate sector is largely family dominated and they have very limited understanding and interest towards sustainability issues.
“In such a context, important corporate governance mechanisms including auditing is treated as an unnecessary deterrent, resulting in poor audit fees,” he added. Significant policy intervention and mandating sustainability reporting may be a way forward, he suggested.
ICAB President Md Shahadat Hossain said, “We need to focus on sustainability reporting and green finance to ensure growth. The accountancy profession has always faced the challenges of various complex situations.” “They can use their skills of aggregating data into useful information, help with cost analysis of environmental decisions and be involved with the audit and assurance of corporate social reports,” he said. Conference organizing committee Chairman Parveen Mahmud said, “We are committed to achieving sustainable growth which will reduce unemployment without jeopardizing our common aim of avoiding a new wave of inflation. Our efforts must be mutually supportive rather than competitive.”