Page 14 - ICE BUSINESS TIMES January 2020

FROM

THE

EDITOR

By the time this editorial is being written, speculations about a war between the U.S.
and Iran is brewing strongly since the former recently killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani,
the latter's most powerful military commander. An escalation that will bring forth
"harsh retaliation”. The recent drone attack followed by the assassination carried on
by the U.S. Military have raised tensions globally as 'World War III' started trending
on Twitter with global stocks plummeting downwards, and gold prices hitting highest
price in the last six years and oil prices soaring too. Just when we thought we have
had enough with the 'phase one' of U.S.-China trade war and the never-ending
BREXIT deal, this happened.
However, in the home front, we have something else to give us sleepless nights. Not
only has it cut a hole in our wallets but also become an issue of national debate,
conspiracy, embarrassment, you name it, the skyrocketing onion price was the topic
of the town during the last months of 2019. Affecting everyone, the scarcity led people
to opt for trying cooking without the staple. As households around the country suffer
due to the lack of supply of onion, we came to know about mounds of rotten onions
meeting watery graves thanks to the dishonest stockists who wanted to make millions
by escalating the scarcity further. Just one sad picture of how we have failed to curb
corruption! With syndicates lurking everywhere, starting from banks to bazaars, 2019
has been a year where the economy has been jolted owing to faultlines like the rise of
NPLs in banks. In our January 2020 issue, we look to prominent economists like Dr.
Zahid Hussain, who stresses that we have to decide whether we want exchange rate
stability or reserve stability. If we are looking at the economic growth as the headline
number, we need to have sustained high growth to achieve our objective of SDGs, and
upper middle income country status, to rise to the aspirations we have. To achieve
those we need investments and innovations. Dr. Zaidi Sattar urges us to integrate with
the world market which will allow job creation for our demographic dividend hence
reducing the rocketing unemployment rates. Echoing similar concerns, Dr. Fahmida
Khatun emphasizes the need for modernising our education system in line with the
needs of the market so that the emerging workforce will have the necessary
employable skills. On the other hand, our economy is not large enough to
accommodate each and every job seeker. Therefore, opportunities for
self-employment have to be created.
We need a conducive environment and policies which favor export. We need to
address long term structural reforms in the investment environment and maneuver
through the regulatory complexities and unpredictability, and we need to rethink the
nature of skills our workforces need. With the dawning of the new decade, the world
rests uneasy with the looming threat of war. In the homefront, we continue to battle
with corruption, and the time is indeed now to ensure that policies are in place to set
the records and the economic course straight as we set foot into the roaring 20’s.