The country has been going through an economic crisis for quite a long time, yet there’s no substantial discussion on this. The best place to discuss nationally important issues is the national parliament. The ruling party has an unparalleled dominance in the current parliament. If they don’t want, there won’t be a discussion on economy or anything else. Leaders end their duty just by giving speeches on the economy.
In this context, the discussion Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) has organised with the policymakers, economists and traders on country’s economy marking annual development conference, certainly is commendable. There’s no denying that alongside a political unrest, an economic crisis is going on in the country at this moment.
Meanwhile, government policymakers blaming only the global situation for this, isn’t right either. The Russia-Ukraine war has increased the prices of fuel oil and imported goods.
However, the fact that we didn’t try to discover newer fields of our own precious energy resource, the natural gas and try to extract that cannot be blamed on the Russia-Ukraine war.
Nor any outsider is responsible for the irregularities and chaos running in the country’s banking sector for more than a decade either. The amount of defaulted loans in the country stands at Tk 1.34 trillion, which stood at Tk 220 billion in 2009.
Government banks have gotten into trouble in giving hefty amount of loans under political pressure. On the opposite, private bank owners have been given unfair advantages, by changing their management policies repeatedly. Directors as well as owners of some banks themselves are major loan defaulters.
Alongside economists, bankers and traders, government policymakers including ministers, state ministers as well as several advisors of the prime minister also spoke openly in the BIDS conference. Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal wasn’t present at the conference, though he’s the best person to explain government’s stand on the economy.
The vocal presence of bureaucrats in the conference rather than the ministers-state ministers didn’t escape concern citizens’ attention either. To solve the ongoing economic crisis, the government has to first admit the mistakes of the past. Whatever we did, that’s the best- this sort of attitude won’t help in alleviating the economic condition.
Economists and business representatives at the conference emphasised on rapid eradication of energy crisis and foreign exchange deficiencies to recover the economy. Economists have also criticised the option the government has kept in the budget for bringing back siphoned-off money for a 7 per cent tax.
The proposal is unethical as well as unrealistic. Even after five months of the current fiscal year, not even a single penny has been returned. Economists and bankers at the conference urged to break the incongruous cycle of bank interest rate. However, disagreeing to this, prime minister’s private industry and investment advisor has said that country’s industries sector will suffer if the interest rate is lifted off. It’s also essential to consider if it’s just a theoretical solutions or not. Meanwhile, the prime minister's energy adviser has opposed subsidies.
But what’s the answer to the fact that the government has given billions in subsidy in the name of rental and quick rental power plants without extracting our own gas resources. We’ll hope that the government will soon rectify the mistakes of the past as well as take sustainable and effective measures to tackle the economic crisis. Denial of failure won’t end the crisis.