Turbulence in the currency market has become a cause for serious concern. Foreign exchange market, like the domestic commodity market, cannot be manipulated although the flow of forex's supply can be disrupted in time of greater demand. At times, the central bank has to inject greenbacks to stabilise the forex market as the Bangladesh Bank (BB) did with a record $5.31 billion the financial year of 2022.
Yet instead of stabilising, the currency market has become jittery and the central bank was forced to devalue Taka twice after a big depreciation in January 2022 last. Now the latest sale and purchase of a dollar at a record of Tk 102 on the kerb market in May 2022 only highlights the extent of forex crisis. Even importers were compelled to settle import bills at Tk 97 against the BB-fixed rate of 87.60 for a dollar.
Rising import costs, declining remittances and a large payment to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) as early as January triggered the process of short supply of greenbacks and decline in the forex reserve to $44.33 billion on January 5 2022 from $46.39 billion on June 30 2021, which reached a record reserve of $48 billion in August last. Still the gap between import and export favours widening of the current account deficit.
So this latest forex crunch will put further pressure on the country's forex reserve. Now the question is, how it will impact the country's economy and commodity, foods in particular, inflation. Economies the world over suffered on account of the pandemic and the steeply rising prices of fuel oils have triggered a chain reaction of commodity and service inflation, globally. At home, even utilities are becoming costlier. After gas price hike, electricity is likely to be pricier with a proposal submitted for raising its tariff by 66 per cent. The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Committee has suggested a 58 per cent raise for per unit power.
At a time when the spectre of hunger looms large over the globe, these developments on the domestic front cannot but make political leaders concerned about its impact on the poorer sections of the population and the overall food security of the country. When the official announcement was surplus production of rice, the country all of a sudden came to know that the staple was in short supply. There was desperate search for overseas market from where rice could be imported. At one stage, duty on import by private companies was slashed to just 2.0 per cent from 16 per cent.
On the heel of the pandemic has come the Russia-Ukraine war and it is wreaking havoc on some essential commodities including one of the most popular staples, wheat in many countries of the world. Russia, the biggest global exporter of wheat and a major exporter Ukraine are engaged in the war and the supply chain of gas and fuel oils, wheat and sunflower oil, of which the war-ravaged country was the biggest exporter, has been severely disrupted or come to a total halt, stoking high inflation. Sectors that earn foreign exchange will benefit on account of devaluation of Taka but compared to the country's overall loss this is small consolation.
So the challenge before the government is stiff. Management of the market and adjustment of Taka- Dollar exchange rates are the immediate challenge and ensuring a sustainable forex reserve and development is the long-term objective. That the government has decided to go slow on less important development projects is a step in the right direction. But getting the priority right is no mean task, when it comes to preparing for the future.
The development model followed so far depending on cheap labour may fail to deliver in the days to come. There is no alternative to developing human resources. Demographic dividend can be reaped if only quality human capital can be developed under a comprehensive and up-to-date education system with required investment in the sector. This is the priority task for the government like any other in the world.
Automation in the Banking Industry in time of Urgency.
Customer's onboarding processes lack effective communication and personalized recommendation. There is also a problem of personnel assistance in the digital onboarding process.
Digitizing and customizing the retail banking process for the clients will attract more customers.
The customer engagement will be more personalized if the customer profit includes hybrid customer channel information, the likelihood of personalization of both content and channel.
মুদ্রাবাজার ও পণ্যবাজারের অস্থিরতা এখন শেয়ারবাজারেও ছড়িয়ে পড়েছে। এ বাজারের বিনিয়োগকারীরা আর্থিক সংকটে পড়েছেন। প্রাতিষ্ঠানিক বিনিয়োগকারীরাও রয়েছেন অর্থের সংকটে। ডলারের দামের অস্থিরতায় বিদেশী বিনিয়োগকারীরা শেয়ার বিক্রি করে দিচ্ছেন। এ অবস্থায় বাজারে বড় ধরনের দরপতন হয়েছে।
আসুন অনুবাদের পূর্বে কিছু ইংরেজি শব্দের বাংলা অর্থ জেনে নেইঃ মুদ্রাবাজার – Money market. পণ্য বাজার - Commodity market. অস্থিরতা Unsteadiness; Instability, প্রতিষ্ঠানিক বিনিয়োগকারী - Institutional investors, অর্থ সংকট - Financial crisis. বিদেশি বিনিয়োগকারী – Foreign investor, দরপতন - Price fall.
= The unsteadiness of the money market and the commodity market has now spread out in the share market too. Investors of this market are in financial crunch. Institutional investors are also in financial crisis. Foreign investors are selling their shares due to the unstable dollar price. There has been a big price fall in the market in this situation.
আসুন অনুবাদের পূর্বে কিছু ইংরেজি শব্দের বাংলা অর্থ জেনে নেইঃ Fourth industrial revolution অর্থ চতুর্থ শিল্প বিপ্লব। Matter of life and death অর্থ জীবন মৃত্যুর বিষয়। Fall short অর্থ কম হওয়া; অপেক্ষাকৃত নিম্নমানের হওয়া। Equivalent অর্থ সমান; সমতুল্য। Prehistoric era অর্থ প্রাগৈতিহাসিক যুগ। Take the advantage অর্থ সুযোগ গ্রহণ করা। Strong foundation অর্থ শক্ত ভিত্তি ।
= বাংলাদেশের মতো উন্নয়নশীল দেশগুলোর জন্য চতুর্থ শিল্প বিপ্লব একটি জীবনমরণ সমস্যা। প্রারম্ভেই বাংলাদেশ এই চতুর্থ শিল্প বিপ্লব হতে সুবিধা হাসিল করতে পিছিয়ে পড়েছে। এজন্যই বর্তমানের সুযোগটা হারানো হবে পূর্ব যুগে বাসের সামিল। চতুর্থ শিল্প বিপ্লব হতে সুযোগ গ্রহণের জন্য বাংলাদেশের ছাত্রছাত্রীদেরকে ভবিষ্যতের জন্য প্রস্তুতি নিতে হবে। তাদেরকে অবশ্যই কম্পিউটারে বিভিন্ন জিনিসের সাথে ইন্টারনেটের সংযোগের বিষয়ে (loT), প্রযুক্তির সমন্বয় বিষয়গুলিতে দক্ষতা অর্জন করতে হবে।
Wheat is the second most important staple food of Bangladesh after rice. But it's supply chain has already been hampered due to the prolong war between Ukraine and Russia. Rice production has also been hampered due to the untimely rain. These hike prices of the both crops. So a co-ordinated move is needed to help farmers harvest paddy.