Jatiya Party chairman Ghulam Muhammad Quader on Sunday told Jatiya Sangsad that it was unrealistic to think of solving economic problems by spreading corruption and irregularities in the economy.
鈥楾here should be accountability everywhere in society to cure the economy. It only means there will be good governance in the country,鈥� he said while participating in the general discussion on the proposed budget for the 2024-25 fiscal.
GM Quader said that by enacting laws with impunity in the power and fuel sector, creating opportunities for free corruption in the country, legalising illegal money laundered abroad by introducing offshore banking, it was proposed to absolve people of all responsibility for corruption by allowing them to whiten black money paying taxes in name only.
鈥楢 large rich and super rich class has been created through corrupt individuals and groups, bank defaulters, and money launderers. Facilities have been ensured in the proposed budget to bring them into the mainstream of the economy,鈥� he said.
Quader said that the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic and the war in Ukraine was gradually diminishing in the world economy.
鈥楧ifferent countries are going back to the previous situation. But we cannot make our progress. That is why many experts believe that the Covid-19 epidemic or the war in Ukraine has not caused main problems in Bangladesh. The problem started earlier due to other reasons,鈥� he said.
The Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine only fuelled them, he said, referring to experts.
鈥楾he real problem is, in a word, lack of accountability resulting in lack of good governance. As a result, corruption and malfeasance spread widely at every level of society,鈥� he said, adding that economic activities and related policies are influenced by individual and group interests.
He also said that as a result of these, the interests of the country and the people had often been neglected in the formulation or implementation of economic policies.
鈥業t can be said that the economic crisis of Bangladesh cannot be overcome without overcoming the lack of good governance in the economy and the prevalence of corruption,鈥� he added.
No mention of the main problem has been made in the budget and no direction given to deal with that problem, he said, adding that it is seen that instead of solving the problem, attempts are made to encourage causes of the problem.
Therefore, a sustainable and permanent solution to the existing economic problems cannot be expected any time soon, he said.
Criticising mismanagement in the banking sector, GM Quader said that the banking sector was shaky.
鈥楾he reason is bad debt. In March, the amount of defaulted loans stood at 4.39 lakh thousand crore,鈥� he said.
