Private Sector Contribution in Bangladesh’s Economic Boom

The private sector of Bangladesh has come a long way. In fact, at present, the major economic boost of the country comes from private companies. The role of private businesses and enterprises has been immense in keeping the economic pace of the country high.  But some challenges are still there to be overcome. Let’s examine the achievements and challenges.

Robust development has been witnessed in all the industrial sectors over the last 10 years. For instance, looking into the power sector, generation capacity of Bangladesh today is over 13,000MV compared to 5000MV back in 2009. 54% of the total power is generated by the government, while 41% by the private sector and the remaining 5% is being imported from India. At present India is supplying 100MV power supply from Tripura in return for an import of 10 GBPS internet connectivity. But to supply the growing need of energy in the country, more power plants are needed. The government, after realizing the significant role of private sectors in meeting the rising need of the country permitted the building of power plants by private sectors.

The private sector’s role in enhancing the economic conditions is extremely vital. A major chunk of the country’s GDP comes from the earnings of the private sector. Top private companies in Bangladesh like ACI and Beximco group, who are in the front of the pharmaceutical industry have been able to significantly contribute towards GDP increment through their export earnings, leading to the enlargement of the country’s wealth so that capital can be generated for holistic development. Prominent business personalities like Sohail F Rahman, who is Beximco’s founder, believes that this is just the beginning of the growth of sectors, not just the power sector but also others like pharmaceuticals, textile, food, and other manufacturing industries.

The importance of the financial sector in keeping the pace of growth in a good flow is huge. Most of the financing in the country for private entities have come from banks.

But despite this progress, there are some challenges. In the power sector, there have been power cuts and load-shedding in high frequency as some power plants are not able to generate to their full capacity. Solutions such as harnessing solar energy and developing a better bilateral relation with neighboring countries are some pragmatic steps taken by the leaders of the country.

Another concern has been the fact that though agriculture is one of the main sectors of the economy, the portion of credit toward agriculture sector has been greatly reduced. While some economic experts are optimistic about increased investments in the industrial sector, others are worried that the reduction in agricultural credit for the country may incur severe damage to the economy in the long run. But as long as dynamic business personalities like Sohail F Rahman and Salman F Rahman are there, it is expected that all sectors will get the boost it requires for ensuring economic boom.

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