From left: Mahbubur Rahman, president of ICCB; Atiur Rahman, governor of Bangladesh Bank; Mukhisa Kituyi, secretary general of UNCTAD; Tofail Ahmed, commerce minister; John Danilovich, secretary general of ICC; Sunil Bahadur Thapa, commerce and supplies minister of Nepal; Pwint San, deputy minister for commerce of Myanmar; Mahfuz Anam, editor of The Daily Star; and Kyle Kelhofer, country manager of IFC, pose after a discussion at the ICC International Conference on Global Economic Recovery, at Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka yesterday. Photo: Star

Asian countries including Bangladesh must keep politics aside from business for the betterment of economy, analysts said yesterday.

“Economics and politics must be separated. Politics should not be in business and business should not be in politics,” said MA Taslim, an economics professor at Dhaka University.

“Unfortunately, it is happening in major parts of Asia,” he said, adding that democratic countries like Bangladesh must be careful as there is a difference between market and political forces.

The country should not follow the same principles as autocratic governments, Taslim added.

Politics seriously affected business in Bangladesh, said Hossain Zillur Rahman, former adviser to a caretaker government.

He too called for keeping the economy free from political influence for higher economic growth.

They spoke at a session styled 'Asian Growth: Realities and Challenges' during International Chamber of Commerce Bangladesh's two-day international conference.

Trade is the most dominant factor in the Asian economy, said AB Mirza Azizul Islam, former finance adviser to caretaker government.

The main challenges to the Asian economy are slow growth of exports, exchange rate stability, and reduction of income inequality, he said.

Trade restriction imposed by developed countries is another challenge for high GDP growth in the Asian country. 

The Asian Development Bank projects regional growth to pick up to 6.2 percent in 2014 and 6.4 percent in 2015 for most Asian countries.

Although Asia has made major strides since the 2008-09 global recession, not all countries are out of the woods, he added.

Sadiq Ahmed, vice-chairman of Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, said developing Asia continues to do substantially better than the rest of the world on the growth front despite a slowdown in global economy.

With its rising share of world income and trade there is a good chance that Asia will lead the way for global recovery, he said, adding that much depends on what happens in India and China.

The basic fundamentals are strong in the giant Asian economies, with India expected to get back to the 6-7 percent growth trajectory and China to 7-8 percent, he said.

“Along with restoration of stability and growth in advanced economies in 2-3 percent range, these performances can be an important pull factor for global recovery.”

The stronger long-term growth performance of developing Asia is mainly explained by economic fundamentals, according to Ahmed.

The higher growth is spurred by a rapidly rising national investment rate and expansion of exports. 

“South Asia has been a bit of a laggard and export-orientation and trade openness started very late in the day. But slowly, it is catching up.”

Asia has done much better than others during the financial crisis of 2008-09 mainly due to better performance of the Chinese and Indian economies, said Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue.

“'Chindia' has driven the growth in Asia,” he said, while slotting the Asian economies into three categories of “Dazzling, Dancing and Dazed”.

Dazzling Asia includes the higher income countries like Japan, Singapore and South Korea; Dancing Asia has the upcoming China, India and Malaysia and the dormant economies of Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka form the Dazed Asia.

Bhattacharya stressed more integration between the Asian countries for sustained economic growth. 

Dazed Asia should establish a new phase of relationship in terms of sub-divisional or connectivity projects with other Asian countries.

Atiqul Islam, president of  Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said regional cooperation is necessary for the overall development of the Asian economy. Aftab-ul Islam, president of American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh, said regional cooperation does not get a momentum in South Asia mainly due to mistrust among neighbouring countries.

He stressed the need for enhancing people-to-people contact in the region with more exchanges between businesspersons and civil society members.

South Asian countries can benefit immensely from cooperating with each other, he said, while citing Nepal's capability to address the region's electricity shortage with its 80,000 megawatts of hydropower.

Sultan Hafeez Rahman, executive director of Brac Institute of Governance and Development, said Asian countries have to be more open and should invest in fundamental research. 

Adeeb Hossain Khan, council member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh, said Bangladesh is gradually getting importance on the global front due to its larger population base.

As a result, Japan's Honda and Uniqlo and India's CEAT have already set up operations in Bangladesh, he said. Salehuddin Ahmed, former governor of Bangladesh Bank, also emphasised more regional cooperation.

“Asia cannot grow alone.”