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Download PDF The ongoing emergency in the political and economic arena may create a ’social emergency’ in the country unless the government deals with the economic problems properly, Dr Akbar Ali Khan, chairman of Regulatory Reforms Commission (RRC), yesterday said.
“Economic and political instability may be a grave concern for any given country and we are now going through such a critical situation,” he said, adding that the administration will have to adopt mid-term planning so that economic emergency could be tackled and confidence builds up among the people.
Dr Akbar was speaking at a seminar on ‘State of the Economy and the Way Forward’, organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) at the CA Bhaban in Dhaka.
He said along with the domestic economy, the world economy is also in trouble. “We have to find a way to overcome such economic crises.”
“It will be wrong if the government takes a six-month plan. It should rather design a three-to-five-year plan immediately. Moreover, the government will have to take some hard decisions that are relating to the common people,” he said.
The present government is not directly responsible for creating an economic emergency, but they should prepare for facing such challenges, he said.
Dr Akbar said the first task of the government should be providing all necessary support for the poor or fixed-income people who are likely to be severely affected due to the existing economic crisis.
The former adviser said if the government cannot help the poor and fixed-income people, it would be very difficult for them to survive.
“The government will be required to raise the deficit financing in order to ensure food security of the poor people,” he said, adding that such deficit financing will not pose any problem to the economy as the country has a good foreign reserve.
About 40 percent of the population are poor, facing serious problems in their daily livelihood due mainly to the price hike of essentials such as rice and edible oil, according to experts.
Local food prices are going up because of price spike in the international market. Dr Akbar said prices may not be cut locally in the upcoming years as climate change and expansion of farming for bio-fuel have ushered in a huge change in the global agriculture.
“We need to put all-out effort into our agriculture and the government will have to take strict decision as to fertiliser and diesel policies,” he said.
Criticising the government for not starting disbursement of diesel subsidy to the tune of about Tk 750 crore, he said any decision should be implemented properly.
Dr Akbar said although the economy has some good indicators, robust foreign reserve and a favourable exchange rate and economic growth, the country is facing some major challenges including high inflation rate and negative investment growth.
Yussuf Abdullah Harun, former president of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, presented the keynote paper at the seminar. ICAB President Humayun Kabir also spoke at the function.
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