The first responsibility of the interim government is the development of law and order in the country. Besides, the country’s trade and commerce are activated. Bringing comfort back to people. Bringing back the normal environment in import-export. Everyone is calling the mass awakening that the new generation has created with the conviction of creating a new Bangladesh, a people’s aspiration Bangladesh free from discrimination and corruption, as the second freedom. The government has to work to achieve the benefits of this second freedom. Although the tenure of the government is not yet clear, since it is interim, it is expected that they will do the work of law and order and reconstruction of the economy with maximum effort and transparently in a short period of time.
Many wounds have been created in the economy. A lot of dirt under the carpet. The smell will come out only when you vomit. Law and order needs to be fixed first to remove all the dirt.
Money laundering must be prevented. Black market and defaulting customers should be exposed. Patriotic and experienced smart officers should be posted in suitable posts.
Discipline of the banking sector, establishment of banking commission, normalization of import-export environment, looking at foreign exchange reserves, bringing transparency in revenue collection, maintaining supply chain in the market, preventing rise in commodity prices, bringing inflation under control are the primary tasks.
Then step by step bringing back the democratic environment in various sectors. Finally, transfer power to the representatives of the people by conducting a free, fair, impartial and acceptable election system. A certain time is required to do these tasks. The cooperation of the public and the sincere cooperation of the law enforcement agencies is required. The wounds that have been inflicted on the economy will not be so easily healed that immediate, short and long-term planning will be needed. This is why the country’s professionals. Teachers, businessmen, civil society, economists, researchers and experienced secretaries can be consulted. The interim government faces several challenges and opportunities to revive the economy and build a new Bangladesh. Some of the most important challenges are:
Restoration of law and order: The first demand of the agitating students is an end to discrimination. This discrimination should be eliminated by establishing the rule of law. The new interim government must first restore law and order. Each police station can form a committee with the OC of the police station under the leadership of students. Extortionists, thieves, mustans in the area should be monitored so that they cannot escape. They should be arrested and brought under the law. Patriotism, accountability and rewards can act as incentives to fight crime. One of the major tasks of the government is to bring to justice those who have violated human rights under the age of 15, ordered murders, disappearances and so on.
Economic recovery: The economy is in turmoil. There is corruption in many important sectors of the economy. The true state of the country’s economy was hidden for so long. These are now coming out in stages, the government should identify the wounds of the economy and urgently identify which sectors have suffered more damage and provide solutions.
Banking Sector Reforms: Banking sector is the backbone of the economy. The previous government has broken this backbone. Banks are facing liquidity crisis. There is a crisis of people’s confidence. The duty of the interim government will be to restore good governance in the banking sector without delay. Developing efficient management for recovery of defaulted loans. Dismissal of miscreants from various positions in the bank. Normalization of import-export trade. To protect the interests of big traders as well as to protect the interests of small and medium traders. Attention should be paid to the rural economy. Fixing supply chain in ready made garments and this sector. According to the newspaper, the debt of the government for 15 and a half years is more than 1.5 lakh crore rupees. More than 150 billion dollars were smuggled. From 2009 to 2023, 17 lakh 60 thousand crores of Tk. Problems should be solved as soon as possible.
Actual accounts of foreign exchange reserves should be disclosed. Hopefully, the reserves will increase from now on, but steps must be taken to avoid the problems that occurred in the past days. Another problem of the economy is the non-collection of revenue at the desired level. Revenue collection is not as per target in any year. Development activities of the government are disrupted due to non-collection of revenue at the required rate. As a result, loans have to be taken from government and private sources. Excessive borrowing is not desirable under any circumstances. Market syndicates, street extortion, illegal brokers and middlemen were more prevalent under the previous government. Market management was held hostage by syndicates. Now in the changed scenario the nation has to be protected from road extortion, mobility in transport system and violence of syndicates. Extortionists should be suppressed with a strong hand.
According to data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the government ended the fiscal year 2023-24 with a revenue deficit of Tk 38,000 crore, with food inflation exceeding 12 percent. As the tranche of foreign debt has almost doubled, even after receiving the second tranche of the IMF loan, it is not possible to stop the decline in reserves. Not only that, other macroeconomic indicators are also in negative trend for many days. Another important factor is the declining tax-GDP ratio. The tax-GDP ratio has fallen to below 8 percent, the lowest in South Asia. As the tax-GDP ratio is falling, the burden of public debt is increasing day by day to finance the budget. According to reports published in the newspaper, the foreign contractors in the energy and power sector have not yet been paid. Meanwhile, foreign airlines are also due. Electricity bills imported from abroad are also overdue. They have to be paid. And if you want to repay, there will be pressure on the reserve.
Overall inflation at the end of the year was 9.73 percent. Inflation for fiscal year 2023 was 9.30 percent. Bangladesh has already been redlisted by the World Bank considering food price inflation. In the present context, rapid steps should be taken to restore the shortfall in Bangladesh’s import-export and remittance collection.
Bangladesh Bank and Export Development Bureau have many discrepancies in terms of foreign trade. It will change many accounts of the economy. Growth and per capita income will also change. If we want to increase our reserves, we have to remove the problem of foreign trade. Money laundering should be prevented, remittances should be brought through legal channels.
For so long, the country was moving in the autocratic direction. The task of restoring democracy is difficult. We believe that the new government will be successful in bringing the country back to the real democratic trend by restructuring the state institutions.
It must be remembered that the students and masses, angry because of long-term autocracy and disenfranchisement, sent off Hasina’s government in a mass uprising. As a result, the main goal of this government will be to bring back democracy and voting rights. A new Bangladesh without discrimination and exploitation will be developed, this is everyone’s hope.