South Asian countries for regional coop to curb commodity price inflation: experts
South Asian countries must think about further enhancing sub-regional cooperation when all global powers are rethinking their value chains in the post-pandemic world scenario.
Speakers expressed such views at a conference of South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) 2022 hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) at a city hotel today.
They said COVID-19 induced economic slowdown disrupted the global supply chains which has been further aggravated by the Russia-Ukrainian war.
Global economies have been experiencing inflation from the high supply of liquidity, resulted in rapid increases in commodity prices, especially prices of fuel, crops, and fertilizers.
The speakers cited that these issues have created critical challenges for macroeconomic management in developing and emerging economies, said a press release.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi inaugurated the conference as the chief guest while the Adviser to the Prime Minister on private industry and investment Salman F Rahman and the State Minister for Planning Dr. Shamsul Alam spoke as special guests.
Parveen Mahmud, Chairman of the Organising Committee of Conference, ICAB President Md. Shahadat Hossain, H M Hennayake Bandara, President, SAFA also spoke on the occasion.
Md. Humayun Kabir, Past President and Council Member, ICAB gave a brief note on the entire conference at the valedictory session. About 30 delegates from South Asian countries participated in the conference.
Mohammad Al Maruf Khan (Bangladesh) CA. Chandrashekhar Vasant Chitale (India) S M S Sanjaya Bandara (Sri Lanka) and Dr. Aditi Haldar, Director, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), CA. Sushil Kumar Goyal (India), Raju Iyer Pichumani, (India), Awais Yasin, (Pakistan), Prof. Lakshman R. Watawala (Sri Lanka), Nuwan Withanage (Sri Lanka) spoke, among others, on the occasion.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said that the development of Bangladesh is an example to many countries. “By 2026 the country will be graduated …To sustain the development growth, we need to boost up our trade among the countries in this region, therefore, regional connectivity is a must.”
He said although Bangladesh has many challenges, however, working together regionally can propel the country to go forward.
There is no shortage of rationale for increasing regional trade cooperation among South Asian countries as trade between these countries has been steadily increasing especially over the last decade, said former Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman.
He said this while presenting the keynote paper on Regional Connectivity for Sustainable Growth.
Dr Atiur said this growth has a much slower pace than the true potential. “The trade between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal increased by six times between 2015 and 2019. But, still unexploited regional trade potentials for Bangladesh remains to be as high as 93 percent,” he added.
To tap the unexploited potentials, South Asian countries need to invest more on improving regional connectivity, he suggested.
Prof Dr. Javed Siddiqui, Alliance Manchester Business School – Accounting and Finance division, UK, keynote speaker of technical session-one said, sustainable finance means ‘sustainable’ investment like investments in renewable energy.
In recent times, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting provides a more holistic view of the activities of the company, he said.
Bangladesh Bank Board Director Mahbub Ahmed moderated the technical session one.
Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Commerce moderated the technical session two where Sabbir Ahmed, Council Member-ICAB and Partner, Hoda Vasi Chowdhury & Co., Chartered Accountants presented another keynote paper on “Current Trend of Regional Economy: Role of Professional Accountancy Organizations (PAO)”.
Citing an example of a research, the keynote presenter Sabbir Ahmed said, there is a strong correlation between the number of accountants working in economies with GDP per capita, and an even stronger correlation with the UN Human Development Index (HDI).
Professional accounting bodies can play active role in improving a country’s ease of doing index through providing practical insights and sharing best practice examples from other countries, he further said.
ICAB President Md. Shahadat Hossain said, “To ensure growth, we need to focus on sustainability reporting and green finance. The accountancy profession has always faced the challenges of various complex situations. They can use their skills of aggregating data into useful information, help with cost analysis of environmental decisions and be involved with the audit and assurance of corporate social reports,”
Conference organizing committee chairman Parveen Mahmud said that they are committed to achieving sustainable growth which will reduce unemployment without jeopardizing the common aim of avoiding a new wave of inflation. “Our efforts must be mutually supportive rather than competitive,” she added.
