The government should maintain the consistency of its different policies for at least five years so that the policies can give proper supports to the country’s development activities, observed the Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD), a public private dialogue (PPD) platform of the country.

The platform also urged the authorities concerned to review regularly the policies or rules or regulations to make those updated and as per the need of new types of businesses.

BUILD came up the recommendations from a policy dialogue on the “Regulatory Predictability and Private Sector Development” at Hotel Amari in the city on Thursday night.

BUILD, with the support of World Bank Group (WBG) and International Finance Corporation (IFC), organised the dialogue to discuss about the regulatory unpredictability which hampers economic diversification, productivity improvements, technological development and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister M Nojibur Rahman attended the dialogue as the chief guest while Finance Secretary Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) President M Shafiul Islam (Mohiuddin) and Practice Manager of the WBG Investment Climate Advisory Services Dahlia Khalifa were present as special guests.

BUILD Chairman Mahbubul Alam delivered the welcome speech while BUILD Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ferdaus Ara Begum presented a key note speech highlighting different sources of regulatory unpredictability based on a survey conducted by BUILD.

In his speech, Nojibur Rahman said regulatory unpredictability is one of the major concerns for the private sector as it can make business costly and investment uncertain. In order to address these issues, the primary requirement is regular dialogues, he added.

He said, “Our private sector is now more intelligent. They are innovative and aware of how to present their cases to the government. A coordinated effort within the private sector is also important to facilitate decisions of the government.”

He said the government is seriously concerned about extending better policy support to the private sector for increasing the country’s economic activities.

Muslim Chowdhury focused on joint activities of the public and private sectors for taking forward the country.

Mahbubul Alam said one of the major reasons for the slow pace of growth in private investment is the existing regulatory unpredictability, which has an impact on the cost of doing business for local and foreign investors. Based on the survey, BUILD also recommended for addressing the frequent transfers of strategic positions of government officials.

It said private sector would also need to take some responsibilities to put forward their required opinion on time and advocate their issues with justification.

The PPD platform urged the authorities concerned to give prior notice on Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) for taking comments from the business community.