Hiked interest rate to create pressure on businesses: Salman
Staff Correspondent
Prime Minister’s Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman expressed concerns that the hiked interest rate by the Bangladesh Bank will exert heavy pressure on businesses.
He, however, appreciated the central bank for “devaluation of the local currency taka in due time” and hoped that inflation would ease.
He made the remarks while replying to questions from journalists after the inaugural ceremony of 29th Annual US Trade Show at the InterContinental Hotel in Dhaka on Thursday.
State Minister for the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications, and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak, US Ambassador in Dhaka Peter D. Haas and American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) President Syed Ershad Ahmed also spoke on the occasion.
AmCham and the US Embassy in Dhaka are cosponsoring the expo.
Saman F Rahman said, "The central bank raised the interest rate to control inflation. Currently, there is more than 9% inflation in the country, it has to be reduced. It will be revised if inflation does not come down."
Bangladesh Bank raised the dollar price to Tk 117 from the existing Tk 110 on Wednesday by introducing the Crawling Peg Exchange Rate (CPER) system.
The central bank also increased its key policy rate by 50 basis points to 8.50% in line with its contractionary monetary policy.
