Finance and Planning Adviser to the interim government, Salehuddin Ahmed has indicated that his ministry will prioritise those projects of the ongoing ones that foster businesses and employment. The objective is to support people's livelihoods through creation of jobs. Of course, he has not ruled out carrying on works of the mega projects but the relatively more important projects will get preference for execution.
This resonates with the desire expressed by Tuomo Poutiainen, country director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for Banmgladesh. He hopes that the findings and recommendations of the just published ILO report, titled Global Employment Trends for Youth 2024 (GET for Youth) will be of help in "shaping an environment for a better future for youths in Bangladesh, aligning with the 'zero unemployment priority' of the interim government".
The 'zero unemployment priority' sounds more like rhetoric than a reality in the context of the financial sector's malaise in the country. Businesses and the banking sector the interim government has inherited are in disarray. The only positive development has been on the remittance front with its inflow through formal channels rising healthily. But unless business takes off and the revenue earned can be redirected for investment in productive purposes along with injection of foreign direct investment and development of institutions that support the cause of young people, attainment of the objective will remain elusive.
The banking sector that bled white with the flight of enormous sums of money out of the country will certainly need a reasonable time for its resuscitation. In addition to creation of wealth from the country's manufacturing, service sectors and businesses, this is a precondition for opening up more livelihood options for the youth. Will the interim government get as much time as needed for advancing such pressing agendas? The youth employment situation the world over has improved, so has that of the South Asian sub-region but the rate of unemployment, particularly that of the 'not in employment, education, and training (NEET) category is still higher at 20.4 per cent. This is largely because of the extremely high NEET rate at 42.4 per cent among young women as against 11.5 per cent among young men in South Asia.
The erosion of income with devaluation of Taka and the shrinking of quality employment for a decent living made worse by a mismatch between education and highly paid jobs have proved a stumbling block on the way to reducing unemployment among the educated youths. Unsurprisingly, unemployment among the bachelors and master degree holders is higher than the youths with education below that level. Although the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has often shown concocted figures of unemployment, private research organisations put the figure as high as 46 per cent among youths who passed bachelor, bachelor with honours and master's programme from the National University. According to the European Intelligence Unit statistics, the unemployment figure among bachelor degree holders was 47 per cent last year.
Prolonged high inflation in Bangladesh has exacerbated the overall economic status of the average people with the low-income group bearing the brunt. Not only has it affected their purchasing power but also forced them to curtail their food intake with the exclusion of protein and other costly nutritious stuffs such as milk and egg. Under compulsion they have made their children to discontinue studies and lend their tender hands to earn a pittance for their families to stay afloat. How the anti-discriminatory movement waged by students addresses this yawning social discrimination and the NEET gender gap of almost four times higher among young women compared to their male counterparts is to be seen. The adviser in charge of financial matters also has to think of a novel way of developing more areas for absorbing the growing army of youths ready to enter the labour market under an inclusive employment policy.
Fund constraint is likely to be the primary concern. In this case, reorganisation of the slimmer budget can bring about some sort of parity between the pressing issues and the funds available. The finance adviser has stressed the need for avoiding wastage and effective execution of the annual development programmes. Sure enough, cost overrun on account of delayed implementation has been endemic. If this is taken care of, funds can be saved. But the chance is even higher for saving money on projects if bribery and misuse of funds can be done away with. This interim dispensation can prove that a stringent budget can work wonder if the bureaucratic behemoth is activated to achieve a required momentum.
History has bequeathed the best opportunity for cleaning the Augean stables that bureaucracy has become over the years. The commission culture and egregious abuse of power and public funds in the name of development have to be made a thing of the past once for all in order to make the most of the money spent on any project. This will certainly do justice to the people who want their due service without hassle and bribery. Monetary constraint can thus be overcome to a large extent by taking up pro-people programmes including creation of employment for the youth.
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