FE Report
Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman urged the politicians to spare the economy from disruptive political activities to let it achieve desired growth for the common good, as Bangladesh remained blockade-bound for days.
He stressed the imperative for keeping economic activities outside the purview of politics, allowing businesspeople do their trade and business, while economists called for a comprehensive political dialogue to end the deepening current crisis.
"The country's economy would grow further if there is no political instability," said the central bank governor while addressing Friday a working session of the 19th biennial conference of Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA).
He urged the warring politicians not to do things that destabilize the economy and stymie its potential growth.
"Please do not obstruct the export-laden trucks, let those go to the ports, let the farmers bring their produce to the market and shopkeepers open their stores," the governor said in his appeal.
"Please do not turn Nirod Chowdhury's 'Suicidal Bangalee'", he added.
The governor was presiding over the session on 'Socioeconomic Dimensions of Development' on the second day of the meet at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, in Dhaka. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the three-day biennial conference Thursday.
Five papers on 'Transition from Autocracy to Democracy', 'Political Economy: Size of the Government', 'Public Accounting Oversight', 'Birth-Philosophy and Future of Bangladesh' and 'Tagore's Thoughts on Socio-economic Development' were present in the session.
One more paper on 'Assessing Economic Implications of Present Political Shocks: The Economics of Hartal', co-authored by Dr Debpriya Bhattacharya, Towfiq Islam Khan and others, was also circulated amongst the audience.
Kalyankar Mistry in his paper 'Birth-Philosophy and Future of Bangladesh' identified 10 major key factors, including political conflicts, corruption, extortion, black money and social injustice, that are seriously hindering economic development and interrupting the smooth process of civic life.
He argued that GDP growth would have very little impact on attaining sustainable development and establishing democracy unless the birth-philosophy of Bangladesh is materialized and practiced in every sphere of life.
In his article 'The Economics of Hartal', Dr Debpriya and his co-authors showed how the domestic conflicts often push countries into a fragile state and Bangladesh currently experienced a series of such shutdowns sending serious shocks to the economy.
"With subsequent increase in the number of hartals in the recent past, the number of casualties have also elevated significantly," the paper reads.
According to the article, casualties and violence in hartals have been more severe in recent times, and have spread even non-official working days.
In 2012 some 84 people were killed in political violence, compared to 58 in 2011--and the figure shot up to 507 in the year 2013, it is stated in the article as regards escalation of violence in politics.
To overcome the crisis, the economists underscored the need for immediate cessation of all sorts of destructive and subversive activities which are affecting life, property and growth potential.
They urged creating an enabling environment for political dialogue with engagement of all stakeholders from all walks of life, who can have their problems flagged and their voices heard.
To make government more effective, Jamaluddin Ahmed in his paper entitled 'Political Economy: Size of the Government' suggested keeping the size of the government limited and improving the quality of services.
He suggested reducing the number of ministries to 17. He also called for immediate introduction of Financial Reporting Act
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