Interview: Bangladesh feels pinch of U.S. Fed's rate hikes, says economist-Xinhua

Interview: Bangladesh feels pinch of U.S. Fed's rate hikes, says economist

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

2022-11-12 11:44:00

DHAKA, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- The economic woes associated with the ballooning U.S. debt are spilling over to many countries around the world and countries like Bangladesh have felt the pinch of the U.S. Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes, a leading Bangladeshi economist has warned.

With the U.S. national debt already exceeding 31 trillion U.S. dollars and due to the U.S. rate hikes, the global economy has shrunk amid dire problems including currency devaluation, inflation and food crisis in various countries, Md Aynul Islam, general secretary of the Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA), told Xinhua in a recent interview.

If the U.S. and European economies markedly fall, the Bangladeshi economy will take a hard hit as the country's exports are highly dependent on the United States and European countries, said Islam, also a professor of economics at Jagannath University in the capital Dhaka.

"In this situation we should find a proper way out," he noted. "Our export baskets should be diversified and steps should be taken to widen the sources to export," the professor added, stressing the importance of trading with China.

The Chinese economy has already shown that it is accumulating more and more power, Islam said, calling China "a trusted friend of Bangladesh."

The BEA has more than 4,500 economist members from academia, government, businesses, civil society and other sectors.