Economy devastated by political unrest, declining forex reserves: Experts

Business Report :
The ongoing political and labour unrest has hit the country’s economy very hard. Since September 28 the BNP-led opposition has imposed on-again off-again nationwide hartals and blockades to press for resignation of the government paving the way for a free and fair election under a non-partisan caretaker government.
The situation has been compounded as the political unrest coincides with continuing protests by garment workers for hiking their wage.
The protests have been marked by clashes with police, casualties and torching of vehicles, mainly buses.
The anti-government protests have hit the country even as the economy, starting from Covid-19 setbacks, is struggling with the foreign exchange shortage, the value of Taka sliding down 30%, double-digit inflation, the high price of energy and labour unrest cantering salary hike, economists say expressing worries, reports UNB.
Bangladesh Bank has recently held discussions with prominent economists and its former governors on the ways to overcome the situation.
The invited economists suggested policy changes to overcome the US dollar crisis, a stable exchange rate and reduce the inflation at a tolerable level, according to sources familiar with the talks.
The labour unrest for higher wage in the garment sector is also solvable by the RMG owners and policymakers of the sector, they opined.
But economists and businesses felt that they had little to say about the political unrest except suggesting a consensus among the political parties on how to hold the next election which may be held by the first week of January.
Talking with UNB, the former senior economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Dr Ahsan H Mansur said the political conflicts are pushing the economy towards great uncertainty.
Until there is a peaceful solution to the impasse on the upcoming national election, this situation may continue having dire economic and social consequences.