No Hawa Bhaban, PMO dev wing to share your profits with, PM tells businessmen

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday asked businessmen to place Bangladesh and countrymen before profits.

"There's no Hawa Bhaban and development wing at PMO to share your profits with," she said.

The PM made the remarks at a meeting with importers and exporters of consumer goods.

She said in the last 14 years, during the Awami League rule, businessmen of the country ran their businesses and made profits without hindrance.

She said at present, businessmen of the country are free from the "pain of Hawa Bhaban and development wing of the PMO."

"You are not suffering that now. You have to admit that," she said.

Hasina observed that in the past, the lion share of profits went to Hawa Bhaban and PMO's so-called development wing.

"…Keep that in mind, and consider the country and its people (first)," she said.

The PM also said during the Covid-19 pandemic, the government provided stimulus packages to businessmen to run their business smoothly, even though they did not ask for that.

She said a team was formed through her initiative, and it operated well in running the wheels of the economy.

She also recalled that during the pandemic, many factories and industries of developed countries shut down.

"We said we will not allow our factories and industries to close down, we have to continue… I ensured workers' wages, gave stimulus packages," she said.

The PM said when the opposition is holding anti-government protests on the streets some businessmen have become anxious, but there are some others who have started looking for opportunities about how to make profits by opening Hawa Bhaban again.

"Don't know why, suddenly they [businessmen] have started singing a synchronised tune that there is a lack of this or that, and this cannot be done or that cannot take place," she said.

She said the government so far managed to keep inflation under control, mentioning that in England the rate of inflation has jumped to 40%.

She also said the whole world is suffering from the crisis.

The PM said the government is importing LNG at higher prices and providing it at a cheaper rate to the businessmen.

"The crisis did not originate in Bangladesh, it is an international crisis, we must keep that in our mind," she said.

Hasina said to procure soybean and sugar, a team led by the Commerce Secretary will go to Brazil to negotiate directly for the TCB (Trading Corporation of Bangladesh).

"They [Brazil] want to sell directly, and we have to procure those [sugar and soybean] directly, no other means they will allow, it is their system," she said adding that this system has to be followed to procure items from there.

According to the PM's Press Wing press release the PM urged the consumer goods importers and exporters to supply essential items including edible oil and sugar at appropriate price to all citizens of the country.

Talking about the foreign currency reserves, she said during the Covid-19 pandemic people could not travel overseas resulting in high deposits of foreign currency.

She also said expatriate Bangladeshis send all their money through banking channels.

"We did not have any expenditure, as a result the reserve reached $48 billion," she said.

The prime minister said when travels and other business activities resumed and imports started, naturally the expenditure increased.

"The import expenditures were made for capital machinery. Whenever those (machinery) will be used we will surely get our return…this is the reality," she said.

Regarding food security, she said the government is working round the clock to increase food production in the country.

The PM mentioned that after the Russia-Ukraine war began she warned of a famine-like situation in the world.

"What I had told then, everyone is telling that now," she said.

She also said she repeatedly asked everyone to utilise their lands to produce something. "As per my directives, Army, BGB, police and other agencies started production," she added.

"People voted us to office, if they do not vote we will not be in power," she said.

Talking about the electricity and load shedding situation, she said European countries are suffering from an energy crisis.

"England has increased electricity prices by up to 80%," she said.

She also said the United States, which never used their own oil reserves, started using it for the first time.

"We all have to understand the root of the crisis," she said.

PM's Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman Fazlur Rahman, Principal Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus, PMO Senior Secretary Tofazzel Hossain Miah, President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Md Jashim Uddin also attended the meeting.