Bangladesh News

Renowned economists of the country yesterday said the electoral manifesto of BNP touches all aspects of economic problems but lacks any time-bound strategic plan to solve those.

They termed BNP’s giving prominence to economic issues, like the Awami League (AL), praiseworthy in these challenging times.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia announced her party’s election manifesto on Saturday. Earlier on Friday, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina unveiled her party’s polls manifesto.

M Hafizuddin Khan, former finance and planning adviser to a caretaker government, told The Daily Star that it would have been better if the BNP spelt out timeframes and manners to solve economic problems like the AL, which has given short and long-term plans in its manifesto.

It would have been easier then to monitor the performance of whichever party goes to power, he said.

Hafizuddin said one of the main focuses in BNP’s manifesto is on reducing prices of essentials, but the party does not detail how it would accomplish that goal.

The BNP, which had no significant achievement in power generation during its last rule, has pledged to increase power generation, which requires gas and coal. However, it does not specify the source of gas–whether it would be bought from the international oil companies or Bapex, Hafiz said.

Also there should have been a guideline regarding the method of coal extraction, which has caused some controversy lately, he added.

The former adviser said manifestos of neither the AL nor the BNP contain any guideline for resource mobilisation without which, he said, no pledges can be fulfilled.

Zahid Hussain, a senior economist working with a multilateral donor agency, said it is very much encouraging that both the major parties have given economic issues much more importance than they did in the past.

“As citizens we hope both the parties will help each other pursue their avowed agenda in these areas no matter who wins the election. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating,” he said.

The BNP explicitly and implicitly promises to move forward the economic policies and programmes it had during its last stint in power along with others but it has not laid out any milestone or specific target for poverty reduction and economic growth, Zahid said.

“We assume these will be spelt out when [the BNP] defines the policy framework for achieving the broad development objectives to which its manifesto has made a firm commitment. In particular, the voters deserve to know how BNP is preparing itself to face the challenges emanating from external markets due to the global recession that is currently unfolding and appears to be getting worse by the day,” Zahid said.

He said both the AL and the BNP have demonstrated a serious concern about improving governance and expressed their readiness to offer the position of deputy speaker to the opposition. BNP has gone a step further by saying it wants the Speaker to be completely detached from party affiliation.

“BNP is in a unique position to demonstrate the credibility of their commitment to this by setting a precedent immediately even though it will only have a symbolic value,” Zahid said.

Unnayan Samunnay Chairman Dr Atiur Rahman described the BNP’s manifesto as an “instant reaction” to existing problems that lacks a long-term vision to solve those problems.

The BNP has promised to bring down inflation but does not explain how it would do that, he said, adding, “I think there was no well planned research behind the preparation of the manifesto. They spoke of a collateral free loan against deposit of certificates. But I think it would be wastage of money. In the past such steps were taken but those failed.”

Centre for Policy Dialogue Executive Director Mustafizur Rahman said the BNP’s manifesto prioritises three areas–good governance, poverty alleviation and employment creation, and making democracy more effective–all of which are important for Bangladesh.

“The challenge here is implementation of these aspirations,” he said, putting emphasis on mobilising resources to achieve these “ambitious” objectives. Fiscal policy, taxation policy, interest rates and incentive packages will also need to be concretised for that.

Mustafiz said the twin problems of the ongoing financial crisis and inflation would be major challenges in achieving the objectives. “It is good to see that the manifesto mentioned putting in place issue-specific experts groups for coming up with suggestions in this regard,” he added.

“Concrete targets–both short and medium-term–will need to be fixed, around which policy measures can be designed to achieve the objectives set out in the manifesto,” he said.