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What is at stake

Only the Awami League can bring Bangladesh back on track, argues Sajeeb Wazed
I would like to highlight our accomplishments in one area, the economy. This happens to be the area of most concern to the largest majority of our people. The one economic achievement that impacted the greatest proportion of our population was our extremely successful control of inflation. Even through the Asian financial crisis of the late 90s we kept inflation at a steady 1.59%. The price of rice stayed at Tk. 12-15 per kilo. For only the second time in Bangladesh's history we produced a surplus of grain and were even able to export a significant amount. Can you guess when we were self-sufficient in grain production for the first time? It was under the previous Awami League government of my grandfather, Bongobondhu. Not only could the BNP government not match this the first time they were in power, but when they returned to power they promptly turned our surplus into a deficit, resulting in increasing prices once again.
This did not happen by luck or chance. This was a direct result of the diametrically opposing policies adopted by the two parties. The Awami League considers food a basic necessity that must remain accessible to everyone. Our food source and price must not depend on factors outside the country. Therefore we subsidised our farmers and fertiliser production and encouraged new technologies such as genetically engineered seeds in order to enhance production.
The BNP, on the other hand, believed that we could procure grain and fertiliser cheaper on the world market and so it was wasteful to subsidise our farmers. This has the added benefit of giving a few
businessmen close to the ruling establishment the opportunity to profit in importing these items. Of course, this only works as long as world market prices do remain lower. World market prices tend to fluctuate and are difficult to predict at best. If and when they do go up, the price of food in Bangladesh goes up as well. This is precisely what happened.
On other economic fronts, the Awami League is the party responsible for greatest share of our innovation and progress. We privatised the mobile telephone network which made cellular telephones affordable for the masses. The previous BNP government kept it a monopoly owned by one of their own ministers! This kept prices well out of reach of the common man.
We privatised power generation and left the country with a surplus of power production capacity. Once again, the next BNP government promptly turned this into a severe deficit. This deficit, combined with the unprecedented
corruption of their government, severely hurt our businesses and, as a conse-
quence, our economy.
The Awami League privatised the media, airlines and banks, just to name a few others. All this led to increased competition, better products and lower prices for consumers. It also brought about a boom in the business climate which allowed companies to flourish. These in turn created new jobs, reduced unemployment, and grew the middle class. As the middle class grows, the consumer market within the country grows. This in turn drives increasing business profits and the cycle continues upwards. If the Awami League's policies could have been maintained, our economy would have grown exponentially. Unfortunately for the vast majority of our people, this was not to be.
For the full version of this article please read Forum Election Special, available with The Daily Star on Monday, Decembers.
Sajeeb Wazed is an Advisor to Sheikh Hasina. He has a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government