Urgent meeting of regulators needed to tackle export crisis

I do not disagree with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal's statement that "Devaluing the Taka against the dollar will hurt the country's economy."

I think we need to search for mechanisms other than devaluation of the Taka to boost the export sector.

For example, the government is offering a 2 percent cash incentive for sending foreign remittance. The government can provide such special facilities to exporters like us too. 

On the one hand, this will increase our export revenue, and on the other hand our imports will not be harmed. 

Now, the question is, exporters are already enjoying a government incentive, so why are we demanding newer ones?

It is true that we receive incentives from the government, but those are insignificant in comparison to what we need.  

We receive 4 percent cash incentive if we export garments with yarn and fabrics bought from the local market. We also receive a 4 percent incentive if we export garments to the European Union, to the USA, and to Canada.

But, in my experience, these government incentives do not help the exporters much.

So we need new regulations to boost the export sector. This can be done in two ways.

First, we can see what the government can do. 

Second, as exporters and investors, we can assume some responsibility too. It is not fair that only the government should provide us incentives. 

We should think about the reasons behind the negative export revenue and what entrepreneurs can do to adapt to this situation. 

The global economy is going through a sluggish phase, and economists fear that this might continue for a while. 

So, government regulators should arrange meetings to assess the situation. They should hold meetings with exporters too. The sooner the discussions are held, the better.