Governance, transparency, time-bound strategy urgent

Establishing governance, transparency and time-bound strategy are among urgent dos for helping Bangladesh economy out of its current predicament, eminent discussants said Wednesday at a dialogue and termed the proposed budget inappropriate for now.

This is an "ordinary budget during an extraordinary time" which would fail to help overcome the economic crisis, they apprehended while anatomizing the provisions set forth in the proposed national budget for the upcoming financial year.

Eminent industrialist and former caretaker government adviser Syed Manzur Elahi said: "I think 90 per cent of prevailing problems could be solved if governance is established."

Under governance, its fundamental bedrocks like transparency and accountability are essential to establish, he said speaking as the chair of the dialogue on national budget, organised here by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

"There are leakages both in income and expenditure in the budget. So, our people will not get expected benefit from it," Mr Elahi told the cutting-edge review meet on budgetary provisions.

Senior economist Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, also another former caretaker-government adviser, finds big lacking in governance and development strategy in Bangladesh at this moment, when the country is on the cusp of transition.

"Inefficiency and lack of governance in the government have been institutionalised," he said. "This is an ordinary budget in extraordinary time. But I want to add that Bangladesh is passing through a transitional period. It is aspiring to become a middle-income country. It wants to graduate from the LDC," he noted.

"Even after the scarcity of income and wealth, we need to become braver, more strategic and more honest as we are passing through a transitional period," said Hossain Zillur, executive chairman of the Power and Participatory Research Centre (PPRC).

The economist finds a lack of strategy for employment generation in the national budget. "Not only here, we did not find any better strategy over the last one and a half decades. This is not getting importance. This is big lagging of us," he laments.

He cited the BBS survey showing that the unemployment rate is rising especially among the youth. Dr Hossain Zillur thinks Bangladesh has fallen into "inefficiency trap".

"We don't have accurate project selection, we have inefficiency in public expenditure and low base of investment," the economist told the meet. "The government is setting up 100 SEZs but how much investment been attracted there!

Dr Rahman said: "Bangladesh has been confined into the 'the iron-triangle' of political economy. The solution is not in hand only to the finance ministry but to the political economy."

He feels only investment for the current scenario is not enough-also is there the need of investment for the future. And future means investment in education and health. "These two sectors are totally neglected over the decades," the PPRC executive chairman said.

He notes that Bangladesh's strength lies with the industrious entrepreneurs and industrial workforces. "But whether we are taking care of these strengths of the economy or we are trying to ignore them!"

Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud opined that Bangladesh's economy is falling into danger conducting reforms prescribed by the IMF.

"I have no difference with the IMF's reform proposals. But I have the reservation about the timing of the reforms. We have been telling the government over the last few years to go for the reforms. But the government had ignored us. Now, it is doing the same thing when the economic fundamentals are unstable," he said.

He raised question about the black money-whitening provision in the proposed budget.

"I will not pay taxes on my income this year. Next time I will legalise my income paying 15-percent tax. Why I will pay now more than 15-percent tax on my legal income if I get such opportunity," Barrister Mahmud said, suggesting others not to give taxes regularly.

He wondered how a government could allow such "dishonesty (allowing black money-holders to legalise their money)". He questioned for whom the government introduced the provision in the budget.

About inflation he said the bank-interest hike only will not bring down the steep inflation. "When an economy will go under syndicate, some people control business. How you will bring down the inflation with the monetary and fiscal policy."

The opposition leader said, "Some 5-6 businessmen are part of the syndicate. But why the government is not intervening there. Actually, the syndicates are more powerful than the government at this moment."

Former Planning Minister M.A. Mannan responded to the critics of governance and economy. "You are criticizing the government but you have to hail the government as well for its better development works.

He also struck a note of scepticism: "From my past experience, I have also question like you whether we are spending money accurately in the deserving sectors.

"As a planning minister I have been forced to endorse some projects although I was not in favour of those or I did not have support for those."

The ex-minister told the meet that he really was excited about some of the megaprojects but some of those could be taken after some time or some of the ongoing ones could be delayed in execution amid the current economic scenario.

Executive director of the CPD Dr Fahmida Khatun said different inductors in the macroeconomic target in the budget are unrealistic as those are not matched with the reality.

She notes the GDP growth is rising but investment and employment are decreasing. "Actually we are in the era of jobless growth. How long we will sustain with this growth," she questioned.

All the speakers at the CPD dialogue strongly criticized the government provision for whitening undisclosed money by paying 15-percent tax, saying that this is "injustice, unethical and conflicting to consistency".

With Apex Group chairman and former caretaker government adviser Syed Manzur Elahi in the chair, politicians, economists, journalists, businessmen and others also spoke at the dialogue.

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