The International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh, has said that the public’s acceptance of the interim government is now on the decline due to spiralling prices of food items and essential commodities and the reluctance of the business community to invest money at present.

‘The unabated price rise has put under threat the government’s impressive achievements after January 11, 2007,’ noted the business organisation in the editorial of its news bulletin released on Tuesday, which said that the price-hike and rising inflation were the biggest challenges facing Bangladesh’s economy.

The chamber also called on the government to ensure an enabling investment atmosphere so that businessmen are allowed to manage their affairs without difficulty and make their own investment decisions.

‘The challenge for the government is, therefore, to win the confidence of the business community in particular, and the public in general,’ it said.

It observed that the current reform measures, including the drive against rampant corruption, ‘are very much welcome but unlikely to yield immediate results’.

The benefits will, however, be felt in the medium- and long-term context, the chamber added.

‘On the basis of faced realities or perceived ones, it is not that businessmen want the anti-corruption drive to stop, but they expect it to be done with due care and, of course, without creating a panic situation and thereby impacting adversely on the entire business activities of the country.’

The Bangladesh chapter of the world business organisation cautioned that the country might not achieve the target of growth in gross domestic product at the end of the current fiscal year because of the recent slowdown in the growth of gross capital formation and slow private investment.

The growth target is fixed at 7 per cent whereas the Asian Development Bank has already expressed the fear that the economic growth rate might fall to 6.5 per cent due to the prolonged flood.

The government’s growth target can be achieved only if three major components of the gross domestic product — agriculture, industry and service sectors — enhance their contribution further, said the chamber.

The chamber, however, appreciated the government’s efforts to tackle the continuous price-hike although its ability to intervene in a free market economy is limited.