ICCB President Mahbubur Rahman expressed his concern at the interference of the international agencies, particularly the IMF, trying to influence Bangladesh Bank to rein in private-sector credit growth to reduce inflationary pressure and the projection of IMF on RMG sector which might slide to a single digit against BB’s observation that the garment sector is unlikely to take a hit from the global financial meltdown.

He also echoed his views with the observations made by the Finance Advisor, Bangladesh Bank Governor and distinguished Chamber leaders on the just announced projection by the World Bank that GDP of Bangladesh would be around 4.8% as against the Bangladesh Bank’s projection of 6.2-6.5 per cent. ICCB President mentioned that the International Financial Institutions should be careful in making such projections public without having consultation with our policy makers, business community and other stakeholders.

In this regard he urged upon the Central Bank Governor to arrange interaction with the World Bank together with government policy makers, business leaders and others to have a threadbare discussions on World Bank vis-à-vis our projections before making any statement on the country’s economy. “We must strongly oppose such kind of negative public statement without providing relevant facts and figures” said Mahbubur Rahman.

Mahbubur Rahman made the above observations while presiding over the inaugural session of a day-long workshop on “International Trade Payments : Management & Options” organized by the International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh held at BCFCC on December 3, 2008. The workshop was organized in cooperation with the United Commercial Bank Ltd

The workshop was inaugurated by the Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed. Chairman of ICCB Standing Committee on Banking Technique & Practices, Mr. Mamun Rashid and visiting expert from Europe Vincent O’Brien also spoke at the inaugural session.

The Governor in his inaugural address congratulated the participants who successfully completed the IFC “FIT” Initiative programme and hoped that the participants as well as the country would be benefited out of this programme. He mentioned that risk and complexity are two major issues in international trade which could be reduced and minimized by creating awareness among the bankers. These type of training programme will be very useful and helpful for the bankers. Replying to the observation made by ICCB President regarding international agencies he said that Bangladesh Bank is very much cautious about their comments and is strictly monitoring the impact of their views on the economy. Regarding exchange rate the Governor told that the exchange rate is not only one criteria for being incompetitive other factors such as productivity improving quality etc. are needed to be competitive.

It is true that till now the global recession has not hit our export industries or threatened the wage earners’ remittances but there is no room for complacency, said Mahbubur Rahman. He also emphasized the need for competitive exchange rates to keep our exports competitive and to reduce interest rate to create more economic activities. He mentioned that our interest rate is already very high and we should examine the matter very seriously in order to be competitive.

ICCB President welcomed several initiatives taken by the Central Bank to tackle any immediate impact of the global turmoil on the financial sector. “To minimize exchange losses, Bangladesh Bank immediately revised currency benchmark of its reserves, substantially protecting the real value of the reserves”, he added.

Mr. Mamun Rashid, Chairman of ICCB Standing Committee on Banking Technique & Practices while speaking mentioned that one of the major challenges, our country will be facing is the growing demand for open account transactions, which is still missing in the current import policy order. He observed that in Bangladesh scenario, open account transactions are still restricted to Type-A industries in EPZ, which should be gradually and selectively liberalized specially towards RMG concerns in the face of growing demand from their buyers.

ICCB Vice President Latifur Rahman, ICCB Exsecutive Board Member R. Maksud Khan, CEOs of Banks and Financial Institutions and ICCB Secretary Ataur Rahman among others attended the inaugural session.

After the inaugural ceremony Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed distributed certificates among 43 successful candidates of IFC “FIT” Initiatives programme launched by ICC Bangladesh in collaboration with International Finance Corporation (IFC) of World Bank Group and e-Business School of Ireland (eBSI). It was also mentioned that the second batch of the FIT Initiative programme will start toward the end of December this year.

ICCB President hoped that the banks will encourage their potential officers to register for this world renowned e-learning programme as well as for the forthcoming CDCS Examination scheduled to be held in Dhaka on April 16, 2009. to develop their professional skill at the international level.