Political leaders and leaders from various sectors on Saturday warned that creating new employment opportunities and restoring stability in the job market would be major challenges for the incoming government elected in the upcoming national election, as social discontent rises amid widening economic disparities.
The concerns were repeatedly echoed by speakers throughout the day-long Bangladesh Economic Conference 2025 organised by Bonik Barta at a hotel in Dhaka.
Secretary general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir emphasised the urgent need to reopen factories and industries that had been closed for the past 15 years, which he said that had left 1.4 million people unemployed.
‘Where will these people go? Why are we creating this unemployment? We must focus on restarting factories and creating jobs through these institutions,’ he said.
He criticised the punitive actions against entrepreneurs that led to factory closures, arguing that such measures harmed thousands of workers.
Fakhrul highlighted the BNP’s commitment to improving the lives of common citizens and restoring economic stability.
He referred to the party’s earlier policy proposals, including Khaleda Zia’s vision 2030 and the 31-point reform plan of 2023.
National Citizen Party convener Nahid Islam identified job creation and meeting the needs of the rapidly expanding urban middle class as the two biggest policy priorities at present.
‘Millions of young people enter the job market every year. Ensuring employment and securing the livelihoods of metropolitan middle-income families must be prioritised,’ he said, emphasising the affordable education, healthcare and essential public services to prevent further social frustration.
Industrial stagnation and contracting private investment have resulted in 1.4 million job losses, leaving many wandering the streets without employment, said Ha-Meem Group managing director and former FBCCI president AK Azad.
Speaking at the conference’s opening session, he warned that Bangladesh was failing to generate sufficient new jobs despite the expanding labour force.
‘Every year, 30 lakh people enter the job market. Of them, 1.2 lakh join government and semi-government bodies, 8 lakh migrate abroad, and 10 lakh find jobs in the private sector. The rest remain unemployed,’ he said, adding that expected levels of new employment were not being created.
Citing the Bangladesh Bank bulletin released on November 23, Azad said that the country’s GDP growth fell to 4.22 per cent last year and was expected to further decline to 3.97pc this year.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Bank governor Ahsan H Mansur cautioned that the banking sector would require 5 to 10 years to recover from its severe non-performing loan crisis.
‘NPLs have become a major structural problem, with more than one-third of bank loans now classified as non-performing. Banks are running on the remaining two-thirds, putting the entire financial sector under strain,’ he said.
He noted that the NPL rate had already crossed 35pc, far above earlier estimates. ‘This crisis cannot be resolved overnight. We must move step by step.’
BIDS director General AK Enamul Haque criticised the country’s economic governance model, describing it as dominated by a catch-the-thief mentality that discouraged business confidence.
‘Regulatory bodies lack strong accountability structures, comparing the nation’s tax administration to the old “zamindari system” focused solely on revenue collection rather than development,’ he added.
BSMA president Jahangir Alam said that businesses were under excessive pressure from multiple import duties and advance income tax.
He also criticised the recent increase in turnover tax from 0.1pc to 1pc, saying, ‘Companies are being forced to pay even when they incur losses— a system unheard of elsewhere in the world.’
Despite these challenges, City Bank managing director Mashrur Arefin expressed cautious optimism, saying, ‘Discipline and governance in the banking sector are improving. Loans that were once approved in boardrooms are now processed according to proper rules.’
He acknowledged weak private sector credit flow but said businesses may be waiting for more certainty. ‘The investment climate will improve after the national election.’