The Awami Leage led government came to the power for fourth consecutive terms and formed the cabinet 4 to 5 months ago. The government, formed of young and veteran persons, has many challenges ahead of them and they need to be alert on many things, the experts think. Among the challenges, there are recovering from dollar crisis, returning the discipline in banking sector, reining on the unstable flow of price hiking of commodities, resisting many irregularities and corruption, keeping the political stability and law and order situation normal.
On the other hand, they have to be active in international arena for things like increasing export revenue, overseas employment of Bangladeshis and repairing the relations with those countries with whom there are lack of warmness.
The current government has to overcome these challenges at home and abroad, including preventing anti-government propaganda going on right now in various social media. Awami League has been in power since 2009. The country's economy has reached a new level in last 15 years since the first term of the current government. Per capita income, growth, reserves, export-remittances has reached new record. But the corona pandemic and the war in Ukraine changed everything. Tk depreciated against dollar, as well as there is a crisis of dollars. The economic crisis is evident. Apart from this, various mismanagement, high prices of commodities are making people worried. Therefore, the experts are suggesting the government to consider various aspects.
Bangabandhu's daughter Sheikh Hasina has shown the dream of a developed, prosperous, smart Bangladesh by 2041 by creating new momentum in the economy in last one and a half decades. She shared this dream while announcing the party manifesto before the 12th National Assembly elections. The current government is walking on that path. Political, social and economic analysts have advised to proceed with all kinds of precautions to solve the current crises. They say that if the commodity price situation is not brought under control, the discontent among the common people can take an open form. For that reason, bringing the price of commodities under control should be considered as a priority of the government. The economic condition of the country is fragile. In particular, the reserve crisis and inflation have created major crises for the economy. The biggest responsibility of the new government is to bring relief to the public by reducing the price of goods. Now the dollar crisis has become dire. Traders are not able to open LCs properly. So this crisis should be resolved soon. Various crises are going on in the banking sector as well. Defaulted loans are not being recovered. Many people do not get bank loans even after submitting proper documents. Many others smuggled abroad with fake documents and borrowed crores of Tk. Correct steps to rescue them are also not visible.
In this regard, the executive director of the research institute Policy Research Institute Ahsan H. Mansoor told The Bangladesh Pratidin, "We have been talking about the dollar crisis for many days, but the government is walking on that path right now even though it is too late. The dollar exchange rate is market oriented. However, it has greatly devalued the money. This will stabilize the market to some extent. It will take some time to increase the country's foreign exchange reserves. If Bangladesh Bank maintains this policy, inflation will start to decrease after a few days. If it is left uninterrupted, it will not be decreased.”
In the context of eliminating various irregularities and corruption in the banking sector, he further said, “The irregularities and corruption in the banking sector and abuse of power have been done under the shelter of political umbrella. This problem cannot be solved by legislation. It should be done politically. Ensure good governance and get rid of irregularities. The initiative taken for bank integration should also be implemented.”
Political analyst and former vice-chancellor of Jagannath University Meezanur Rahman told The Bangladesh Pratidin, “There is a crisis in the economy. Reserves need to be increased. Inflation rate is hurting people. Initiatives should be taken to recover the money that has gone from the bank. Just jailing defaulters or money launderers will not solve the problem. In addition to giving jail, measures should be taken to recover the money.”
He said there are various irregularities and corruption in various fields and they should be stopped. BNP and their allies will want to move against the government. They must be kept under control. Apart from this, there should be a strong position to prevent anti-government social media propaganda. BNP did not participate in the 12th National Assembly elections. They have not yet accepted this election. They are agitating against the elections and against the new government. How successful they can be in this movement is another matter. But Awami League has to be organizationally strong to counter the movement of BNP. Dhaka Metropolitan Awami League is extremely weak organizationally. The question remains as to how much the political situation can cope with this weak organization. Prior to the last national elections, the US and the UK had a negative attitude. This has resulted in new polarization in the international context. Strong diplomacy is needed in this regard. We have to work towards that goal.”
Diplomats say the crisis that arose with the Awami League over the elections is no more right now. The election was accepted by almost all countries. In this context, the professor of International Relations Department of Dhaka University Imtiaz Ahmed told The Bangladesh Pratidin, “There were always challenges in front of Bangladesh and its still exist. But the 12th national parliament election has been accepted by all countries. So I don't see much challenge.”
Now the upazila elections are going on all over the country. Awami League vs Awami League rivalry is increasing in this election as well. Dissatisfaction has arisen at the grassroots due to the dominance of ruling party MPs and ministers. Attacks-conflicts-conflicts are happening in different places centered around upazila polls. On the other hand various social crimes are increasing. As a result, the law and order situation is feared to deteriorate. Political analysts feel that the law and order situation should be kept normal if the country is to move forward. Awami League government is building digital Bangladesh. With the advantage of that digital, the opponents of the government are sitting in the country and abroad and are making various lies. The government is not able to deal with them with a strong hand. Not only they are doing activism against the government, but also against the enlightened and known people of the society or those who are playing a role for Awami League in various ways. Those concerned say that the government should solve them quickly. Answers should be given with correct information against lies.
(The report was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on April May 13 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque Khan)
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