Both the kidneys of Bangladesh have been eaten, said research institute Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) special fellow and the head of the white paper preparation committee Dr. Devapriya Bhattacharya.
He made this comment at the 'Policy Dialogue on Financial and Economic Reforms in Bangladesh' organized by BRAC Business School of BRAC University at Badda in the capital on Saturday. The event was organized under the chairmanship of Syed Farhat Anwar, VC of BRAC University.
Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya said, 'Bangladesh has two kidneys. One is financial sector, another is energy sector. Both have been eaten by the previous government. Those who ate the energy sector, they ate the financial sector again.'
Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya also said that people were kept inside the central bank through extortion. They printed money, showed fake reserves. A person who is not qualified to run a bank is allowed to bank.
He said, 'We are in the middle income trap. If the state is not repaired, two paise reforms will do no good. If economic stability cannot be brought, it is not possible to move forward on the path of reform.'
Debapriya said that there was a serious problem in the growth data and data during the previous government. Information is politicized. Growth without private investment is shown, whereas tax GDP does not increase. No taxes, no investment and while showing visible development, social development, health education has been severely undervalued.
In the speech of the chief guest, the interim government's finance advisor. Salehuddin Ahmed said, 'The previous Awami government has exhausted the banks. Most of the institutions are on the verge of collapse. Many projects have been done, the feasibility test has not been done.'
Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed said, such a big wound has been created in the financial sector, it cannot be imagined from the outside. So much irregularity, chaos, corruption did not happen anywhere else in the world.
Urging common people not to despair, the financial advisor said, 'Work is being done to get out of the looting in the economic sector. Some discipline has started to return in banking sector, stock market, revenue management. For now we have emphasized some short-term reforms. The next political government will have to make medium and long-term reforms.
Apart from this, international organizations including World Bank and IMF are very interested in providing loans to maintain the stability of the economy, he said.
Finance advisor on Adani's electricity issue said, 'Adani has been given four to five thousand crore rupees. But no tax was collected. Is it a deal? You will be more surprised to hear that 135 million dollars of fertilizer was not paid by the previous government. We came in and paid off almost two and a half billion dollars in debt, without touching the reserves.'
Salehuddin said that arrangements are being made to stop money laundering, “We are building a road.” Whatever government comes in the future, be it public side, be it private side; Money can no longer be smuggled. Through the renovations we are doing, we will leave a footprint. Let the next government follow in our footsteps.'
Pointing to the former governor of Bangladesh Bank, he said, 'Think how the head of the institution sits till 9 pm to give an approval, how the institution can run. Now Bangladesh Bank is paying the previous arrears without selling a single rupee from the reserves. But the previous governor sold 42 billion to 12 billion dollars. I don't know where you are in great joy after exhausting your reserves like this.'
Dr. Salehuddin said, 'I often say we have been given responsibility, not power. The first of these duties was to fix the way the country was running. It will take time to repair. Many people have said about Bangladesh Bank. I left Bangladesh Bank in 2009 after serving as Governor during three governments. Not everyone was an angel then. At that time defaulted loans were 18 thousand crores. Now it is two and a half lakh crore rupees. Everyone knows why this default, for whom it has increased.
The financial adviser said, 'Our development strategy was wrong. Just growth, growth has been made. It has shown that reserves are increasing, exports are increasing, growth is increasing, inflation is low. However, it has not been seen whether these are falling or not. It was the responsibility of the policy makers to see that. It is not seen whether the growth is universal or not. There is no transparency in the financial sector.'
He said, 'We are getting restless with inflation. There are some glitches in our delivery system. You have to pay at 17 places to come to Caravan Bazaar from Bogra. Some places require intermediaries. But there are some, doing nothing but standing on the sidewalk and extorting money. That's why I wanted to change some dealers. But if you change, another group will come and start extortion. How to control it?'
Salehuddin said, 'Banking sector, revenue management, some order has started to return in the stock market. However, many people have taken to the streets as to why the share price has fallen. They want the resignation of the chairman, they are also talking about me. But if you want to reform, you have to bear some pain.'
Commissioner of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Farzana Lalarukh said, 'Those who are manipulating the capital market are much ahead of us. And our surveillance, intelligence is far behind them.'
He said, 'We are fining these mischievous people in many cases, but the question is whether we are ready to do these things at the time they need to be done or not? Our main task in dealing with this capital market crisis will be to restore confidence in the market. We want to restore this trust through transparency, accountability and digitalisation.'
Stating that Bangladesh Bank should be digitized to bring transparency in financial transactions, Association of Bankers Bangladesh (ABB) Chairman and BRAC Bank Managing Director (MD) Salim R. F. Hossain said that there has been looting in the economic sector under direct government sponsorship. Where businessmen and politicians were involved.
According to the organizers, this dialogue is organized with three objectives: to identify the weaknesses of the current policies and procedures of the financial sector of the country, to propose reforms for the development of the financial sector and to provide the necessary recommendations for the implementation of the reforms.
