'Govt bypassing banking sector issues, corruption, wastes'

Former Bangladesh Bank Governor Salehuddin Ahmed has criticised the government for overlooking internal economic issues, such as banking sector problems, corruption, wastes, and excessive allocations for different projects.

When the internal issues were deteriorating, the government brought the external problems to the limelight, he said at a discussion in Dhaka on Wednesday.

The Center for Governance Studies (CGS), a local think tank, organised the event, titled ‘Bangladesh in crisis: Elections, economy, and external relations.'

Former bureaucrats, diplomats, central bank governors, economists, human rights defenders, election experts, and senior journalists attended the programme.

Salehuddin Ahmed pointed out two types of challenges that the economy is now facing: internal and external. He accused the government of bringing external problems to light while internal issues continued to worsen.

“There were efforts to fool the people through sayings – the situation will be normal by March, the export will rise in April. If the problems are not apprehended, there will be no solution,” he added.

The former central bank governor attributed the current economic situation to the government's wrong policies and lack of implementation.

“The institutions are getting damaged day by day and there is no efficiency, transparency, and accountability in regulatory bodies. Bangladesh is a country of economic uncertainty and even a light shake would lead to a no-export situation. If anything happens to the garment sector, the country will get destroyed. It means there was no search for alternative exports,” he explained.

Salehuddin Ahmed criticised the government's growth plan and questioned the sudden jump in the growth target to 7 per cent. He argued that growth alone was not sufficient, as income and wealth disparities were widening.

He also raised concerns about misleading official data and discrepancies in export figures provided by state agencies.

Further, he criticised the increased allocations and timeframes of government projects funded with borrowed money.

“A five-year project turns into a 10-year one, while a Tk 50 billion project balloons to Tk 300 billion one. We are wasting the funds borrowed from abroad. How will we repay if we spend Tk 50 for a Tk 10-product? What do the people want? Tunnel or culvert? You have built a giant hospital, but there are no physicians,” he added.

He also lambasted the people who highlight irregularities in other countries to weaken local ones. The incidents of corruption abroad are followed by appropriate actions, but the scenario is different here, with no accountability and rule of law.

The policies will not be right if the politics does not remain on the right track. It will be challenging to move forward overlooking these issues, he added.