Staff Correspondent

External aid dependence, mismanagement in handling public resources and lack of vision are the major economic weaknesses of the country, said National Revenue Board chairman.

Development partners and multilateral lending agencies impose conditions and the country has to pay a huge amount in interest and principal, Mohammad Abdul Mazid said at the quarterly luncheon meeting of the Bangladesh Leasing and Finance Companies Association.

Citing an example of lack of vision, he said Bangladesh is crisscrossed by rivers, but all the governments since the independence had been investing in road network instead of development of waterways. ‘Donors have given us money for the development of the road network so that cars produced in their countries can be sold here,’ he explained.

Interest payment on internal and external debts is the second highest allocation in the national budget and highest in the revenue budget, the top revenue boss said. ‘In the near future, the interest payment would see the highest allocation in the national budget,’ he feared.

The government allocates 13.5 per cent of the whole national budget for interest payment, which accounts for over 20 per cent of the revenue budget. The highest allocation of 14.5 per cent goes to the education sector. Bangladesh received about $50 billion in external funds in the last 36 years and many qualitative changes have taken place in the country so far. ‘But the country is still far away from being self-reliant,’ he regretted.

The government has invested about 19 per cent of the aid money in energy sector, which is still reeling under severe problems, he said. Rich countries are not interested to provide bilateral aid, instead they advise the poor countries to take loans from multilateral lending agencies, Mazid said. Officials of the lending agencies carry out the policies formulated by their boards and ‘human factor’ is missing in their negotiations, he said.

‘The agencies do not care about whether we are in trouble or not, they are only interested in implementing the policies,’ he added. Cyclone Sidr and twin floods destroyed almost all aman crops, leaving the country with a severe food supply shortage as the previous government did not invest much for the development of agriculture sector, he pointed out. ‘This year we have to take food aid to meet the shortfall,’ he said.

The government has taken us strategies to ensure smooth supplies of agriculture inputs for bumper boro crops, the NBR chairman said. He stressed that remittance inflow should be channelled into productive investments. ‘Embassies and all policies should be aimed at sending skilled human resources abroad.’

Industrialisation is another option for increasing production, he said, asking financial institutions to pump more money in small and medium enterprises. He also emphasised the need for increased domestic savings for more investment.

Bangladesh Leasing and Finance Companies Association chairman Anis A Khan also spoke at the luncheon meeting at the Sheraton Hotel. The association groups 29 leasing companies that offer industrial, trade, housing and consumer credits.

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