Wrong Move And Slow Policy Alignment

50 paisa raise without hike in policy rate A wrong move that may not improve the current state.

Recently, Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers Association and Association of Bangladesh Bankers decided to raise the exchange rate of taka against USD by 50 paisa. Exchange rate of taka has become 110 against the USD from taka 110.50/USD. But this appreciation is not result of interest rate hike rather it is set by some platforms. Meanwhile, local banks unofficially and foreign remittance houses are offering USD at taka 120 or below , slight appreciation from the previous week. It is unclear how the move may help improving the inflationary situation. On the contrary, banks and local exchange houses are likely to gain from such appreciation. This is the right time for another significant raise in policy rate amid dull economic activity. Yet it did not happen. Back in October I penned a piece titled "Slow Alignment Costs Investment", highlighting the costs of slow alignment. Sharing it again:

Recently, the World Bank has downsized Bangladesh growth forecast. It also predicts that inflation in the next fiscal year will be hovering around 8.5%. Earlier IMF in its economic outlook said that it would take at least 2/3 years for Bangladesh to stabilize its economy.

Bangladesh Bank has already said that it has no intention to change its monetary policy before the next general election. This means easing of inflationary pressure may take some time.[However,on October 04,2023,Bangladesh Bank has raised the policy rate/repo rate by 75 basis points.]

Meanwhile, soaring inflation dents in the pockets of lower income group and casts shadow over the investment projects outside the economic zones. If there were several raises in policy rates in one/two quarters( that I argued in a previous piece,see "Could Bangladesh Get The Second Credit Pack?" ), things might have improved one/two quarter later. Now, real interest rate is negative, meaning nominal interest rate is still below the inflation rate. Notion such as this misalignment will be addressed future—interest rate will rise further ---will hold back investors to go ahead with investment projects. Why?

Answer lies on how big investors make their decision. If you look at the discounting criteria then it is not a wise idea to implement a project when interest rate is likely to rise further. Because net present value of cash inflow decreases as interest rate increases. Moreover,cost of capital goes up further,raising the cost of doing business in the country. For FDI project or investors investing in economic zones,this may not be a big issue as they have access to cheap foreign credit/financing. But interest rate could become a factor when their local vendors try to purchase things from local market. Not only the interest rate, the rigid exchange rate may also increase their cost of doing business.

While inflation may continue to dominate interest rate, interest rate may vary in future. In such case, internal rate of return (IRR) based decision becomes untenable as interest rate varies in short period.

Tribal nature of our politics plays a conducive role in mingling business with politics. In such case, investment projects associated with ruling regime with payback period longer than 5 years will go abroad. Investment with higher cash inflows and payback period less than 5 years may see the light. Now guess what businesses will offer you high cash inflows in the face of overwhelming odds! Meanwhile, investment projects associated with opposition creed may go abroad as they may find it difficult to operate here.

Failure of MPS to contain inflation casts shadow over the economy. Interest rate policy chases the inflation at slow pace, sending wrong signal to investors. Political impasse and US Visa restrictions complicated the matter. Amid high inflation we need investment projects to create jobs and generate optimism in the economy. Yet the current policy shelves those projects at a later date or pushes them abroad.