The international Chamber of Commerce and Industry- Bangladesh president Mahbubur Rahman expressed Wednesday his concern at interference of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Bangladesh’s policymaking.

He regretted that the practice of the World Bank and IMF floating unfounded predictions and forwarding unjustified policy suggestions.

‘The IMF is trying to influence the Bangladesh Bank to rein in private-sector credit growth in the guise of suggestions for reducing inflationary pressure,’ Mahbub told the inaugural session of a one-day workshop on International Trade Payments: Management and Options.

The ICC-B, in cooperation with the United Commercial Bank, organised the workshop at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Center in Dhaka.

Mahbub said the projection of the WB and IMF that Bangladesh’s garment export growth might slide to a single digit contradicts the Bangladesh Bank’s observation that the garment sector was unlikely to take a hit from the global financial meltdown.

The World Bank projected that the country’s gross domestic product would be around 4.8 per cent as against the central bank’s projection of 6.2 to 6.5 per cent.

‘We must strongly oppose such kind of negative public statements without providing relevant facts and figures,’ the chamber leader said.

He echoed the observations of the finance adviser, the Bangladesh Bank governor, and the chamber leaders who remain optimistic that Bangladesh’s GDP and export growth would continue.

‘International financial institutions should be careful in making such projections public without having consultation with policymakers, business community and other stakeholders in Bangladesh,’ the ICC-B chief said in a note of caution.

He urged the central bank governor to arrange interactions between the World Bank and the government policymakers, business leaders and other stakeholders on such issues.

Bangladesh Bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed, chairman of ICC-B’s standing committee on banking technique and practices Mamun Rashid, and visiting expert from Europe Vincent O’Brien also spoke at the session.

Replying to the observation made by the ICC-B president regarding international agencies Salehuddin said the central bank was very much cautious about their comments and strictly monitoring the impact of their views on the economy.