Staff Reporter :
Economists at a webinar on Tuesday said that the government should strengthen safety and healthcare system, instead of lockdown, to keep running the wheels of the economy.
The Policy Research Institute (PRI) organised the webinar on “After the Pandemic Onslaught – Economy on Strong Recovery Path.”
Speaking at the discussion, they suggested keeping the economy open during the presence of the new variant of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Omicron has come and it is going to spread but we should not panic,” said Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director of the PRI. “The government should strengthen the safety and healthcare system. We do not want to see any lockdown or any types of severe measures. We don’t want to hurt the economy anymore,” he said.
Already two waves have gone and the third wave is coming. Scientists, politicians and businessmen now know how to cope up in the new situation, Mansur said. Everything is open in the country then why school is closed and why regular curriculum is yet to open, he said. “I find it very inconsistent as in most societies in the Europe and the USA, they focus on school because they are the future generation who are blocked in houses,” he added.
Sayema Haque Bidisha, Research Director of the South Asian Network on Economic Modelling, said all the sectors did not recover at the same pace so the sectors that recovered slowly should get priority and get government support.
Transportation, tourism and construction were among the sectors that recovered at the slowest pace, she said. The process of human capital development has been hit hard during the pandemic, so the government should now think on how it can be recovered, she added.
Abdul Mannan, planning minister; Naser Ezaz Bijoy, president of the Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Faruque Hassan, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and Abdul Mazid, former chairman of National Board of Revenue (NBR), also spoke.
