Missing: strategy for growth, says Zillur

Former caretaker government adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman has said the proposed budget lacks a sense of direction to accelerate economic growth stagnant at around 6 per cent for years.

“It’s not a strategic paper which can show us the light to come out of the 5-6 per cent growth cycle,” he said in his reaction to the budget proposals.

The economist observed that the finance minister has not come up with a policy vision yet for local investors to contribute to both higher growth and to job creation.

As there is talk of special economic zones, primarily targeting foreign investors, he pointed out that a national dialogue on the SEZ remains absent.

“Such an initiative to make SEZ successful faltered in India. In our case, unless there are detailed discussions on contentious issues such as land acquisition, this initiative will yield no results,” he said on Thursday evening after the finance minister placed the new budget in parliament.

Zillur added that the national-level discussions on big projects such as deep sea port and Matarbari power plant projects are missing. “Conspicuously, there is no mention of one of the most important issues - Chittagong Port - in the budget.”

Terming energy a key issue for increasing investment and growth, the economist suggested that there is no holistic approach to addressing the energy sector crisis.

Hossain Zillur, now executive chairman of Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC), emphasised the importance of developing skilled manpower.

“I see absence of dynamic initiatives in this area. The proposals on skills development in the budget are based on conventional and bureaucratic thinking,” he said.

Zillur regretted that the budget could not address the cost concerns of modern-day healthcare services. “As we set new global goals this year, there is no dynamic initiative in healthcare. Rather, the health budget has declined,” he said.

The economist, however, welcomed the finance minister’s announcement regarding the formation of a banking commission and also the idea of a strategic transport authority.