care and education for children as medical cost and tuition fees soared at every level. This was a terrible year.
Public were under squeeze in all fronts throughout 2017. Gas, electricity and water bills soared even more than once in some cases to take money out of public pockets. Higher taxes, soaring prices of essential commodities, repeated hikes in utility bills – all have collectively hit the people hard. Abnormal price hike of daily essentials remained a matter of grave concern for consumers throughout the year, with traders and importers to capitalise on whatever they could as allegations of lapses in monitoring by the government agencies followed. Rice price is hovering at all time high but there is no control over the market as syndicates are robbing common people.
The newer methods of imposing more and more taxes on low-income and fixed earning people have evidently left no room for any type of saving for the poor. Understandably, the tax collected in the name of earning revenue has become bigger than before and an instrument of exploitation and even extortion. The million-dollar question is — how responsibly had the government spent the public money? If public had benefited against what they paid to the government. Other way; who were the actual beneficiaries of public spending?
Given the Rohingya crisis impacting the country’s economy, numbers of state and official visits with huge entourages were more this year. Expenditure for foreign visits and holding state banquets increased manifolds. Undeniably, all costs were borne by the tax-payers from government exchequer. What has come in return?
Ambitious development projects are at work so to give an eye-wash of big scale development. But the sad truth — the financial condition of common people only continued to deteriorate. Human rights activists and market analysts have summed up 2017 as a ‘horrible year’ from consumers perspective; especially the fixed and low-income groups were worst hit. Rice now sells between Tk 50 and Tk 70 per kg, vegetable still beyond affordability of low-income group. Prices of salt, sugar and spices – all such commodities of daily life are at burning points. It is unbelievable onion now sells Tk 120 per kg in market compared to Tk 30 in most part of all seasons.
The upshot of price volatility has left over 50 per cent of the people living on less than $3 dollar daily income to struggle to buy food that accounts for over 70 per cent of their earning. Perhaps the last addition to pinch to public this year was indiscriminate and unregulated increase of house rents in the capital. In less than five years the average rent of a Dhaka apartment shot-up more than by 100 per cent.
What needs to be noted is that the existence of the Competition Commission is not traceable anywhere. The government had set up it in 2012 to ensure fair trade practices but when higher prices are hitting people hard, the Commission is out of sight.
To sum up the year 2017 in terms of publics’ financial wellbeing was a very bad year to force public to pay more without logical and valid reasons. The government is running a highly expensive bureaucracy making people to pay for it. There is no place for accountability from any quarter; the public is here only to pay. We must say the government must prove it understands people’s plight by reducing taxes and utility prices and making governance tolerable. It must reduce people’s plight.
Public were under squeeze in all fronts throughout 2017. Gas, electricity and water bills soared even more than once in some cases to take money out of public pockets. Higher taxes, soaring prices of essential commodities, repeated hikes in utility bills – all have collectively hit the people hard. Abnormal price hike of daily essentials remained a matter of grave concern for consumers throughout the year, with traders and importers to capitalise on whatever they could as allegations of lapses in monitoring by the government agencies followed. Rice price is hovering at all time high but there is no control over the market as syndicates are robbing common people.
The newer methods of imposing more and more taxes on low-income and fixed earning people have evidently left no room for any type of saving for the poor. Understandably, the tax collected in the name of earning revenue has become bigger than before and an instrument of exploitation and even extortion. The million-dollar question is — how responsibly had the government spent the public money? If public had benefited against what they paid to the government. Other way; who were the actual beneficiaries of public spending?
Given the Rohingya crisis impacting the country’s economy, numbers of state and official visits with huge entourages were more this year. Expenditure for foreign visits and holding state banquets increased manifolds. Undeniably, all costs were borne by the tax-payers from government exchequer. What has come in return?
Ambitious development projects are at work so to give an eye-wash of big scale development. But the sad truth — the financial condition of common people only continued to deteriorate. Human rights activists and market analysts have summed up 2017 as a ‘horrible year’ from consumers perspective; especially the fixed and low-income groups were worst hit. Rice now sells between Tk 50 and Tk 70 per kg, vegetable still beyond affordability of low-income group. Prices of salt, sugar and spices – all such commodities of daily life are at burning points. It is unbelievable onion now sells Tk 120 per kg in market compared to Tk 30 in most part of all seasons.
The upshot of price volatility has left over 50 per cent of the people living on less than $3 dollar daily income to struggle to buy food that accounts for over 70 per cent of their earning. Perhaps the last addition to pinch to public this year was indiscriminate and unregulated increase of house rents in the capital. In less than five years the average rent of a Dhaka apartment shot-up more than by 100 per cent.
What needs to be noted is that the existence of the Competition Commission is not traceable anywhere. The government had set up it in 2012 to ensure fair trade practices but when higher prices are hitting people hard, the Commission is out of sight.
To sum up the year 2017 in terms of publics’ financial wellbeing was a very bad year to force public to pay more without logical and valid reasons. The government is running a highly expensive bureaucracy making people to pay for it. There is no place for accountability from any quarter; the public is here only to pay. We must say the government must prove it understands people’s plight by reducing taxes and utility prices and making governance tolerable. It must reduce people’s plight.
