Al Amin :
The market system has turned into a ‘political commodity’ and a section of people, who are connected with the ruling party, are becoming benefited, said BNP Standing Committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury.
While talking to The New Nation, Khasru said, “Such an economic system has been
established in the country in which the people politically connected to the ruling party are plundering state money and it has become a normal phenomenon.”
“People are paying price heavily as all the sectors are being controlled by syndicates and such controlled economy doesn’t bring any welfare,” Khasru, also former commerce minister, said.
“Following this, President Ziaur Rahman had established a free-market or competitive market system by coming out from the controlled economy,” he said.
“All people will be benefited, if we able to establish the concepts of free-market system in the country,” he said.
He said, “But the incumbent government established a controlled market system in the country to facilitate its party men. All commodities have been turned into a political commodity.”
“We must come out from the system to facilitate all people. We must go back to open-market economic system,” he added.
Regarding the BNP’s plan for developing the remittance senders, known as the primary source of forex reserve, Khasru said, “Expatriates send money to help their family members. The remittances are their own money. It should turn into investment by channelising and it must be ensured equal benefit for the investors.”
“Cash incentive is not right solution as the remittance senders will not be benefited properly without right monetary and fiscal policy,” he said.
“Besides, the existing big gap between official and unofficial price of dollar, which is not remittance-friendly,” he added.
“The government is controlling dollar rate for its own interest. They are taking policies to facilitate their party men. This is the main problem of the country at the moment,” he said.
When asked about the BNP’s plan for paying back loans as Bangladesh has been accumulating foreign debt at record pace since 2015 when it was only $4 billion and now figure as per Bangladesh Bank stands at $97 billion, he said, “Taking any loan, you must think about its quality, have to think about return of investment and must consider people’s welfare.”
“But, most of the loans have been taken to loot money in the name of development projects in the present regime. As a result, people are not benefited of the loans. Rather the loans have become a burden for the country men,” he said.
“So, we must come out from the situation and must ensure standard of quality of the loans,” he added.
Currently BNP is struggling for fair elections and human rights and the people are fighting economic uncertainty driven by inflation and unemployment.
Regarding the ruling Awami League has made “development first” as the cornerstone of its strategy to take the country forward,” the BNP policymaker said, “All fascist governments take such stance to cling power. But the policy harms the state in the long run.”
