The Bangladesh economy is stuck in an “inefficiency trap” made of corruption, strategic inefficiency and lack of accountability. In this situation, an opportunity to whiten black money, as proposed in the budget, will only institutionalise theft without benefiting the country, economists and experts have said.

“There is no accountability. Strategic inefficiency and laziness are evident. In addition to that, an attempt to institutionalise corruption is visible,” Hossain Zillur Rahman, executive chairman of the Power and Participation Research Centre, said at a post-budget discussion organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) at a Dhaka hotel on Wednesday.

“There are two golden ducks in Bangladesh. One is the entrepreneurs, and the other is the hard-working labourers in our economy. Are we nurturing the golden ducks, or slaughtering them?” he questioned.
At the programme, former planning minister MA Mannan said during his tenure in the ministry, he had to approve many projects against his own opinion.

Drawing on his 10 years of experience in project implementation, MA Mannan said, “We need to consider where we are spending money and what we are gaining from there. Firstly, we need to assess whether we are getting any return (from an investment) or not.”

He further said, “We live on the surface, but invest underground. There is a need to think about this trend. In many places, we kill supply and demand.”
Syed Manzur Elahi, treasurer of CPD board of trustees and a former advisor to a caretaker government, said around 90% of the problems will be solved if good governance is in place in the country. There were leakages in many places, such as income and expenditure.

Deputy Leader of the opposition in the parliament Anisul Islam Mahmud said, “In my political career, I have never seen such a weak position of the economy.”
Criticising the opportunity to whiten black money with 15% flat tax, he said, “If I get a chance to whiten money next year by paying 15%, then why would I pay tax. Why should anyone do such a stupid thing? The money earned through theft, robbery and murder would not strengthen the economy.

CPD Executive Director Fahmida Khatun said initiatives to whiten black money are unfair to honest taxpayers. Not much revenue is collected through this facility. Why are such opportunities being offered repeatedly?

High food inflation has put pressure on poor people, but the amount of food aid has been decreased in the budget, she said.
Fahmida Khatun further said, “The growth target has been raised in the budget. However, investment is needed to increase production and an investment target of more than 27% of GDP is difficult to meet. From July to May of the current fiscal, export growth was only 2%. In the proposed budget, the growth target has been set at 8%. How is it possible?”