As the possible second wave of Covid-19 pandemic may wreck further havoc on different socio-economic fields, government, entrepreneurs and business people will have to work together for framing strategies in order to keep the country’s financial sector alive ahead of the resurfacing of the virus, economists said.
Coronavirus has again emerged as a threat to the global supply chain for the second time as the number of people infected with the virus in the last few days is higher than at any time in the past, they mentioned.
In this situation, many developed countries including Canada, Italy and France have again maintained limited lockdown to impose many restrictions including entry from one city to another, they added.
If the countries maintain tough lock again, Bangladesh is also going to face many big challenges in trade and investment like many other countries, they informed.
In this regard, experts said the country needs to take fresh strategy in advance to avoid any crisis in future.
Besides, Bangladesh should diversify export and import partners in countries like China to avoid negative impact, they mentioned.
We need to import adequate raw materials for manufacturing industries, they added.
The country needs to expand export market as well try to increase capacity to sell products in the local market, they said.
Dr Atiur Rahman, former governor of Bangladesh Bank, told The Bangladesh Post that, “It is difficult to say how much the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic will affect Bangladesh.”
The government has already taken many measures including forced wearing of mask by everyone to avoid different challenges from the second wave, he added.
Atiur said “We need to run all activities in the country with maintaining healthy measures.”
“There are some risks, but we have to take challenges to save our economy”, he mentioned.
Dr Mirza Azizul Islam, a former adviser of the caretaker government, said, “Bangladesh has faced many problems due to Coronavirus pandemic that disturbed the supply chain all over the world.”
“The country has not come back fully yet from the first wave of Coronavirus. That is why, we need to aware about the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.
Nobody knows which countries will be affected more from the second wave of virus, he mentioned.
As a result, the government should diversify export products and markets to reduce risk, he said.
Referring to his business, Mohammad Hatem, Vice President of The Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), said, “The first outbreak of corona was in the textile industry on February 5. After that, all import-export activities have been stopped as I had to close down the factory for about a month due to the raw material crisis.”
“I hear that coronavirus can affect Bangladesh in the second phase”, he said adding that, “I have already started collecting raw materials in advance.”
