Staff Correspondent

Former caretaker government adviser Akbar Ali Khan said Thursday the caretaker government should consider holding talks with political parties prior to this year's national budget.

Akbar, also Regulatory Reforms Commission chairman, referred to recent comments by "a leading politician" that claimed if the government did not discuss the budget with political parties it was at risk of being cancelled by a future elected administration.

Speaking to reporters after a discussion on coastal issues, the upcoming budget and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, the former caretaker adviser said he thought pre-budget discussions would result in a "more acceptable budget".

He also stressed that the un-elected caretaker government would not have the opportunity to discuss the details of the budget in parliament, which could cause problems. Economist Dr Atiar Rahman presented the keynote paper at the discussion.

Dr Atiar claimed the PRSP for Bangladesh did not specifically address problems faced by people living in the country's coastal regions. PRSP's are prepared by domestic stakeholders as well as external development partners, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to address the macroeconomic and social problems of a country.

Akbar said the much-talked-about PRSP expired last year. "However, the government said the old PRSP will continue. But I have doubts about the macro-economic assumptions made by the government in that paper," said Dr Akbar.

The former adviser said the existing PRSP contained assumptions such as an inflation rate of 5 percent and power generation of 7000 MW, which were no longer applicable.

"The PRSP also assured clean and safe drinking water for everyone by 2007. I can bet on it that those living in Dhaka city don't get the water they need let alone clean and safe water." The economist called for a new PRSP to be formulated immediately based on up-to-date and relevant information.

Dr Atiar added that the national budget did not contain any special provisions for those living in coastal regions either. "There are very few projects in the ADP for the coastal region, and they do not directly bring any improvement to those peoples lives," he said.

Speakers at the meeting recommended providing specific provisions in the national budget to deal with climate change, natural disasters and diversification of work options for coastal people.

The event was organised by Shamunnay, a research and development organisation, the Community Development Centre and the Prothom Alo newspaper.

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