Dhaka Finance Chief Warns Energy and Economic Strains Will Need Two Years to Stabilise
Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury outlines plans for new gas wells, LNG facilities, solar power and private investment to ease energy pressures and rebuild economic confidence.
Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury has told investors that Bangladesh requires a minimum of two years to bring its energy crisis and broader economic stresses under control, with a more complete recovery expected only across a five-year span.
Addressing a gathering of the Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Dhaka, he rejected the idea of a quick fix and described a deliberate sequence in which the energy sector and the wider economy first stabilise, then accelerate, and finally regain fuller strength.
Under the path he outlined, the initial two years would be used to steady supply and ease the most acute pressures; the third year would see momentum return to economic activity; and the fourth and fifth years would deliver a more comprehensive recovery. The minister stressed that offering unrealistic promises of an immediate turnaround would be counterproductive, and he urged private businesses to align their plans with this longer horizon rather than expect rapid relief.
He traced the present difficulties to two main sources: the backlog of debts and unfinished obligations left by the previous government, and the sharp rise in global energy prices that followed the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East only days after the current administration took office. Domestic gas exploration, he noted, had been largely neglected for roughly fifteen years, leaving the country exposed when import costs surged. To reverse that dependence, Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited has been authorised to drill fifty new wells, and production-sharing contracts covering both onshore and offshore areas are being finalised.
Further steps include the planned commissioning of three to four additional floating storage and regasification units with private partners from South Korea, China and the United States, a target of at least ten gigawatts of solar generation, and tax exemptions on solar infrastructure. The minister also highlighted a proposed energy hub near Khulna, where a site offering a twenty-metre draft has been identified for a modern terminal able to receive large oil and LNG carriers, supplementing capacity at Matarbari. Parallel efforts to open port operations to greater private participation are intended to reduce logistics costs and improve the overall ease of doing business.
Khosru acknowledged that the country has already absorbed about seven billion dollars in extra out-of-pocket spending because of elevated global energy prices, yet he maintained that the pressures have been managed without deeper disruption. He pointed to encouraging early discussions on an equity fund in Hong Kong that could channel capital into energy projects, bank recapitalisation and state-owned enterprises, and he called on the private sector to prepare for stronger demand in the later stages of the recovery period.
Business representatives at the meeting underscored that reliable and affordable energy remains essential for restoring investment and export growth. They pressed for accelerated domestic gas exploration, more diverse LNG supply sources, upgraded grid infrastructure, improved industrial efficiency and faster renewable deployment. Independent analysts have warned that, without substantial new discoveries, existing domestic gas reserves could be largely exhausted by the mid-2030s, making both immediate supply measures and a longer-term shift in the energy mix unavoidable.
The two-to-five-year framework provides a more measured, if sobering, guide for companies and households that have endured repeated supply interruptions, higher fuel prices and weak investment. Delivery of the planned wells, regasification units, solar capacity and new terminal on the indicated schedule will be critical to raising industrial utilisation and realising the projected recovery path. In an economy still facing elevated energy costs, strains in the banking system and modest growth forecasts, the speed and effectiveness of these energy investments will serve as a central test of the government's capacity to restore stability and rebuild confidence.