Right when the countrymen were breathing a sigh of relief, things are turning violent once again. With the announcement of one-point demand (resignation of the government), the protesters including cross-sections of people and professionals took to the streets in great numbers on Sunday. As clashes ensued, scores of people have died while the miscreants have carried out arson attacks and vandalism in different places. With this fresh outbreak of violence, the situation seems to be going out of control.

Hundreds of people got injured during the clashes while the ongoing instability has dealt a heavy blow to the business sector. Even before these protests, our economy was not faring well and facing a number of challenges including rising inflation, gas supply crunch, dollar crisis etc. The protests have just added to the woes and exacerbated the overall situation of the economy.
Especially, as we stated in one of earlier editorials as well, internet shutdown has already taken a heavy toll on the businesses. Due to the disruptions caused by the protests and internet blackout, dyeing, finishing, and backward linkage industries have already suffered loss of around Tk7,400 crore in production losses and Tk11,050 crore in wage losses. Now this fresh spell of violence and protests will seriously hamper the businesses.

Owing to the unrest, inward remittance has dropped to a 10-month low in July whereas foreign exchange reserve situation has not been very optimistic for quite some time. Against such a backdrop, our business sector as well as economy is not really in a position to survive another shock. If business operations and factories come to a halt because of the indefinite curfew imposed freshly on Sunday, it will have detrimental impacts on our economy.
As business leaders and industrialists have opined in the face of such a stalemate situation, there is no alternative to holding dialogues for resolving the current impasse. Our economy is also one of the casualties of the violence taking place right now. If the stalemate situation continues longer, it might push the country into uncertainty defined by economic instability and huge losses. Concurring with the business leaders, we urge the government to explore all possible channels for arranging dialogues with the concerned parties with a view to restoring peace in the country and ensuring a conducive environment for the businesses without causing further damage.