Khaleda calls for unity to overcome economic crisis

Blaming the government for bleeding white the national economy, opposition leader Khaleda Zia Thursday called upon the people to get united in the face of serious economic crisis to defeat those who has created the perils, report agencies Addressing a press conference at her Gulshan office Thursday afternoon Khaleda painted a grim situation in all sectors of the economy. She said the government resorted to huge borrowing from banks, local and foreign investment almost nil, remittance declined, instability in the share market and above all severe power and energy crisis. "The government has failed to get foreign aid. The government's daily borrowing from the banks has reached Tk 1.42 billion. It is now considering taking high-interest loan from abroad. Never has such a situation surfaced after 1974. On the whole, the government is pushing the country towards bankruptcy," she told journalists at the briefing. She also expressed her fear that the eroding foreign currency reserves would hamper collection of raw materials for industries. The BNP chairperson said they think after analyzing various indicators the national GDP rate will not reach 7 percent rather fall far short of that figure. The BNP chairpersons said the government must bear the responsibility for the grim economic situation. An anarchic situation has been created in the macro economic management, she added. She said such unsound policy had not been taken by any government in the past. It seems the ruling party leaders have taken the 'scorched earth policy' and want to leave the country to the shelter of alien masters. They want to leave the country pauper, with liability of huge loans, industry shattered, trade and share market collapsed. They are creating a situation from where it would be difficult for the nation to turn around. "Let us take a vow today that we shall free the nation from the clutches of those who have bled the economy white," she said. On Tipaimukh dam, Khaleda said she has recently wrote to Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh expressing concern and urging to carry out joint survey by experts of the two countries on adverse impacts of the proposed dam. After reading out her written statement, Khaleda did not take any question from reporters. She however told a correspondent that the copies of her letter to the Indian Prime Minister on Tipaimukh issue and his reply will be made public soon. She said concerns have been expressed over stagnant economy several times by donor organizations, economists and businessmen. Referring to forecast of IMF, she said the amount of foreign currency reserve that will remain throughout the rest of the 2011-12 financial year will hardly meet the import expenditure of only 2-and-half-month. She said experts said that foreign currencies are being siphoned off from the country through over invoicing. Khaleda Zia said the economy of Bangladesh is in the midst of a serious crisis today. She said the macroeconomic fundamentals have suffered serious erosions and the national economy is under severe strain. She said this situation has been precipitated by the government's totally inept monetary and fiscal policies, poor governance and overall mismanagement of the economy. Consequently, Khaleda said the economy today is afflicted by acute problems in the energy, power and infrastructural sectors, stagnation in foreign and domestic investments, reduced net flow of foreign donors' assistance, downward trend in overseas employment and remittance, deteriorating external balances, depreciating exchange rate of Taka, dwindling foreign exchange reserve, injudicious government borrowings from central bank and the private commercial banks to meet its day to day expenditure and manipulation and plundering of the share market by a few unscrupulous people have left more than three million small investors paupers. "Ironically, the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister have said that there is no financial crisis in the country", she said, adding that such irresponsible statements are nothing short of signifying that the policymakers at the highest level either have no understanding of the magnitude of the economic problems faced by nations or they are unwilling to deal with those. Such a 'denial syndrome' unfortunately also inhibits any sense of urgency to address the problems, Khaleda said. She said no doubt the people of Bangladesh are suffering from an extreme sense of deprivation and uncertainty and desperately want a way out of this malaise.