Country’s economy faced a loss of Tk 130 billion for outages during FY06, which is about 4 percent of the GDP as against the loss of Tk 120 billion or 3.3 per cent of the GDP in FY05, said the annual report of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)-Bangladesh.

ICC-B President Mahbubur Rahman presented the report at its annual council yesterday. The Report marked that the national output growth is likely to slowdown in 2007 due to the anticipated slower GDP growth in FY07. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has projected a 6.5 per cent growth for FY07, which is moderately lower from 6.7 per cent achieved in FY06. The Bangladesh Bank has also projected growth rate ranging between 6.5 and 6.8 per cent. The central bank has, however, linked the growth rate with the favourable political environment and end of disruption to the economic activities.

Suggesting automatic adjustment of domestic fuel prices to international market the report said, “The continuous high global oil prices that have heightened pressure on the country’s balance of payment and threatened fiscal and monetary stability underscore the need for further rationalisation of domestically administered prices of petroleum products. It was, therefore, suggested that a pricing system providing for automatic adjustment of domestic fuel prices to international market situation be adopted”.

Mahbubur Rahman observed that despite all odds at the end of 2006, export earnings recorded a significant growth of 25.80 per cent, while import growth moderated to 19.8 per cent. At the same time, remittances from non-resident Bangladeshis increased substantially by 29 per cent. Like the previous years, the growing inward remittances continued to give strong support to balance of payment situation.

ICCB Report has also projected that in the coming days inflation will be a major challenge for the Bangladesh economy as rate of inflation is critical for accelerated economic growth and poverty reduction.

The ICCB Council expects that the present government would expedite the process to remove infrastructure inadequacies, especially power shortage and sustainable improvement of port operations as well as its expansion.