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Institutional reform is key, expert says

Staff Correspondent
Reforms in three basic institutions including Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and Bangladesh Planning Commission is essential for development of the economic situation in the country, said eminent economist Professor Nurul Islam yesterday.' 1 1 : ( c'1 J ‘
"These institutions are the main bodies responsible for formulating policy for the country's economic development, but they have been messed up for years due to the absence of proper direction and monitoring,'' he said.
He said the BB has already started some of the reform activities, but other institutions need to start reform activities immediately.
He was speaking at a dis-
cussion styled as Contemporary World and the Economic Problems of Bangladesh organized by Shamunnay, a local NGO, at its office in the capital.
Professor Islam, who was the first deputy chairman of Bangladesh Planning Commission, said the global recession would not affect Bangladesh's ready-made garment exports.
"In terms of recession people use to find substitute products, but in this situation it is quite unlikely to find alternatives at a competitive price like Bangladeshi garment products,” he explained.
He also said the global recession would not affect the local economy, as it is not intensely connected with the global economy.
“In addition, the foreign
investments in the Bangladeshi stock market are not very high, either, so the global financial turmoil will not cause the stock market to fall”, he added.
Professor Islam, who is also an emeritus senior research fellow of International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a Washington-based organisation, stressed increasing the agricultural production locally to solve the problem of the global price hike of food items.
"Unless the local production goes up to a satisfactory level and the import dependency of the country is reduced, the financial crisis will never be solved,” he added.
However, he criticised the subsidy that the government has given for the RMG sector for the last 30 years. He said it is
time to subsidise other sectors for example increasing subsidies for agriculture.
He also said the food price would come down soon, but it would not the same as before.
He suggested improving the bilateral political relations between Bangladesh and India to get a better economic and trade relations.
"A better political relation would ensure an effective economic relation, so we have to eliminate mistrust among India and Bangladesh so that we find the mutual benefits together,” he said.
He explained that a better political relation could solve the crisis of importing rice from India.
Dr Atiur Rahman, president of Shamunnay, was also present at the discussion.