Bangladesh Must Retain Economic Growth Upholding Good Governance and Transparency

 

Financial experts and economic scholars have emphatically urged the government to take up immediate steps to wipe out syndicated corruption and to resist banking scams to save national economy from catastrophes. Excessively mounting defaulted loans, bad debts, capital deficit and liquidity crisis are right now the biggest threats to the country’s economy, relevant sources have informed. International Monetary Fund (IMF) and different credit rating agencies have also highlighted the risks Bangladesh’s banking arena is facing at present. Simultaneously, the country’s people including depositors are fast losing their confidence on the banking system for its inactivity to combat banking cataclysms.

Bangladesh graduated from least developed countries (LDC) in 2018 through a recognition letter from United Nations Committee for Development Policy (UNCDP) which was handed over to the then Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to the UN Masud Bin Momen in March 2018 in New York. Bangladesh has been able to successfully meet the terms and conditions from UNCDP for this purpose. Bangladesh’s journey from an LDC member to the status of a developing country is a tale of achievements and tenacity for which the present government deserves credit, economists and civil society members have expressed this opinion.

On the other hand, burgeoning import bills and downtrend in export earnings are greater barriers too for economic advancement. Besides, some infrastructural projects have become highly expensive and time-consuming, administrative sources have stated. Costs are being increased for these projects to instigate a bigger magnitude of corruption by a group of immoral bureaucrats to deliberately undermine the government’s esteem, reliable sources have said. Bangladesh would find it very difficult to secure Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) if the prevailing havoc on banking and financial pastures cannot be restrained, economists have asserted.

Reportedly some bureaucrats and diabolic entities inside the ruling party are trying to give away Bangladesh’s economy and confer development projects to Chinese firms despite the fact that Chinese loans have nearly destroyed the economy of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Nigeria and some more countries. For this reason a great deal of questions and doubts have meanwhile come up regarding the deals signed with China. According to news updates, Bangladesh’s stock exchanges have got into affiliations with Chinese organizations for which business communities and investors have already expressed grim worries. It may be recalled that Chinese consortiums devastated the Karachi Stock Exchange in Pakistan.

At the same time continuous money laundering is a clear reflection of the unhealthy plight financial and banking sectors are undergoing. Trade deficit has exceeded 36 billion USD while bad debts have been increasing by leaps and bounds.

Influential bankers have been mishandling mammoth bank loans and siphoning away egregious sums of money from both state-owned and private banks allegedly while neither Finance Ministry nor Bangladesh Bank has initiated any effective measures to prevent these unlawful acts.  Several political leaders and eminent citizens have in the meantime called upon the regulatory authorities to exercise their powers to reduce graft and anomalies in banks and financial institutions.

Former Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen once said that bureaucrats are involved in money laundering for the most part. Global Financial Integrity (GFI), World Economic Forum, World Bank, IMF and some other international organizations have warned Bangladesh about money laundering.

Allegations show that some ghostly figures inside the government are responsible for misguiding the government on vital issues and degrading democratic values. Democracy, transparency, good governance and development cannot be detached from each other. A country’s democratic process faces impediments if good governance cannot prevail smoothly. Besides, good governance cannot be constituted without accountability in all organizations belonging to government and private sectors. Everything in a democratic state is done for the betterment of people. An all-inclusive approach to socio-economic and political well-being of the nation is the only way to provide required services to the people and this is an indispensable prerequisite for prosperity. Sustaining a pro-people attitude is a very big obligation for ensuring equal rights for all citizens and for the establishment of social justice at all walks of life.

Fighting corruption is certainly a big challenge for Bangladesh. Sustainable development is hard to achieve in the middle of rising graft, irregularities and lack of good governance.

How can development process go ahead if the government cannot halt corruption? Most of the banks are occupied by corrupted people. Corruption has infected almost all state-run organizations, not just banks.

Retaining development is a greater job than achieving it. The government should work uncompromisingly to eliminate graft in all sectors to ensure a prosperous future for Bangladesh.

Graduating from LDC is Bangladesh’s first step towards development. The government’s achievements may become faded away if corruption and irregularities cannot be stopped immediately.

Bangladesh is an agrarian country. Food crisis has emerged in many countries as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War. However, people in Bangladesh have not yet faced food shortage. Remittances from abroad and readymade garments (RMG) are two pillars on which the economy of Bangladesh stands. Foreign exchange reserves have in the meantime gone down to 23 billion dollars according to IMF calculation. Moreover, dollar crisis has paralyzed foreign trade in Bangladesh due to the devaluation of Bangladeshi currency.

It is vital for Bangladesh to retain good ties with the United States and European Union (EU) because Bangladesh exports most of its readymade garments (RMG) products to the US and EU member countries. Bangladesh’s foothold in the international trade will get jeopardized if we fail to give proper importance to our affiliations with the western powers. Some political brokers are trying to get Bangladesh attached with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) while patriotic foreign affairs experts have discouraged Bangladesh to get too intimate with BRI. Rather Bangladesh should upgrade its bilateral alliance with the countries which govern the whole world with their power.

Moreover, Bangladesh should act strongly against radical groups. Bomb attacks throughout Bangladesh in 2005, the explosion at Ramna Batamul, the grenade attacks on 21 August, the assault on Holey Artisan Café are still glaring in our minds. Bangladesh cannot eliminate militancy without support and cooperation from the USA, European Union and India.


PR Biswas is a Senior Staff Correspondent
of The Asian Age.