Editorial Desk :
Two pieces of news that surfaced in the pages of newspapers yesterday show that Bangladesh’s present economic crisis will deepen even further, inevitably impacting negatively the dollar reserves of Bangladesh Bank. In the last month of September, the economy’s two major drivers, export earnings and remittance, fell significantly. As far as export earnings are concerned, Bangladesh registered $3.9 billion in September of FY22-23 whereas exports earnings were $4.16 billion in the same period of the previous year. It is a 6.25 per cent low growth. For the apparel sector, the highest earner of export income, the drop in earnings was even greater, 7.52 per cent.
Similarly the remittance sent by the expatriates through legal channels dropped by 24.42% in September compared to the previous month. The inflow was $1.54 billion in September. But in August, it was $2.03 billion. The sudden drop in remittance has been blamed to the fixing of the different rates of dollars as neither income of workers has decreased in the countries they have gone to, nor has the cost of living risen too much in those countries. It is believed, remittance is being sent through different channels. Therefore, the government will now have to review its decision of September 11 by which banks fixed different buying and selling rates of the US dollar in order to contain the volatility in the foreign exchange market.
Coming to export earnings, surely the Ukraine-Russia war is taking a huge toll on the RMG export. Economists have predicted that earnings from the garments sector, which saw a comeback after the Covid-19 pandemic, would go down with fall in order from the European countries. The prediction is now coming true.
Time and again, we advised the economic policymakers of the country to create the alternative third or even fourth sector, besides garments and remittance earning, so that Bangladesh’s economy can fall back upon in times of crisis as it is now at present.
The government has not even saw the importance of economic growth for job creation through creating trustworthy environment of peace and order for investment. On the contrary, never before there
was so much lies coming out of the government, so much money going out of the country and so much corruption for mismanagement of the country’s economy. The government was keen on continuing terrorising the people through secret killings and disappearances.
When change will come, everybody will know how the country has been plundered and money wasted to establish the false glory about the birth of Bangladesh. The government had no economic policy for the welfare of the people. The bureaucrats will have to bear the main responsibility for the miseries of the high cost of living which is no problem for the corrupt ones while most of the people are finding life miserable. The government has become good for the Awami League followers. Others are living in fear and deprivation.
