Bangladesh’s interim government chief adviser Muhammad Yunus has announced a commitment to enhancing the business environment through reforms, inviting the partnership of businessmen as the country embarks on a new journey.

‘No country is perfect. Neither is Bangladesh. But I see an emerging Bangladesh that is committed to upholding freedom and justice. We are firm to improve our business environment through multipronged reforms that we have initiated,’ he said.

The chief adviser made these remarks at the US-Bangladesh Industry Roundtable organised by the US-Bangladesh Business Council at the Westin New York Grand Central on Thursday.

‘I am here to listen to you and welcome suggestions for enhancing our investment environment. We seek your partnership in this new endeavour,’ he said.

In his comments, Yunus said that his interim government has begun creating an environment where businesses can flourish and entrepreneurs can thrive.

‘Any business requires stability, predictability, and a corruption-free environment. Therefore, a key priority of my government, following the restoration of law and order, is to undertake deeper economic and financial reforms,’ he said.

Yunus mentioned that a committee of experts was working on publishing a white paper that would establish economic benchmarks and encourage reforms by the end of December.

‘You are surely aware of why it is crucial for us to undertake significant economic reforms, as corruption and systemic irregularities have eroded fiscal and monetary discipline,’ he stated.

‘In approximately a month, we could significantly reduce revenue shortfalls and stabilise the taka. The Bangladesh Bank has ceased printing money; instead, we are implementing non-inflationary measures to address the deficit,’ the chief adviser said.

Regarding various development projects initiated by the previous government, he said politically motivated and unproductive projects have been discontinued.

‘We are charting reform paths to address the inherent weaknesses in revenue sector. Our reform measures are already acknowledged. Over past two days, World Bank President, USAID Administrator and indeed President Biden acknowledged these and mentioned rolling out critical financial and non-financial support,’ he said.

The chief adviser said the government is resorting to the borrowing windows of institutional and bilateral lenders for quick injection of foreign currency.

‘The currency regime has been made more market-driven by introducing crawling peg. The currency market is already showing sign of stability,’ he said.

He said the central bank has doubled the deposit insurance, which will protect 90 percent of the depositors in case of any bankrupt, while the governor has already formed a taskforce on banking sector reform, with ADB’s support.

‘None of our efforts will succeed if we can’t contain corruption. We have formed a commission to re-structure our anti-corruption regime. Such efforts will not sustain unless we have an accountable political system,’ he added.

‘We have, therefore, commenced reforming electoral system, law enforcement agencies and judiciary and even police. Supporting these changes will require substantive changes in the country’s constitution. We have started working on that as well,’ Yunus said.

He said the government intends to create more enabling business and investment environment where innovation can thrive, young professionals can turn into entrepreneur, and businesses can operate efficiently.

‘We are also working on customs digitalisation, strengthening IP, copyright and trademark regime, restructuring capital market. We are open to suggestions from any of you to improve our business environment,’ he said.

Noting that the United States has long been a key economic and development partner for Bangladesh, the chief adviser said the US is the Bangladesh’s number one single-country export destination and the top source of our FDI but the trade basket is unusually narrow.

US-Bangladesh Business Council president Atul Keshap  also spoke at the meeting.