Per capita is $2824, yet meat and fish absent from platters

Economists said the actual earnings of low-income people have gone down significantly and they are being compelled to exclude fish and meat from their menu. A question emerges how fish and meat become luxury products when the per capita income in Bangladesh now is $2824.
There is little risk of famine in the country. Inflation has been hovering between 6 and 9.5 per cent since February. The inflation rates of India, Vietnam and Indonesia are still lower than Bangladesh. India registered an inflation rate of 6.77 per cent in October when it was 5.71 per cent in Indonesia and 4.3 per cent in Vietnam. But the rate was 8.91 per cent in Bangladesh.
A series of surveys on the workers of the export-oriented garment industry revealed that their food security index has been on decline. It denotes the workers and their children are consuming less food than before. Their monthly wages and daily work hours decreased due to the low purchase orders in the industry. The high inflation rate and the falling actual income have posed a risk to food security.
The forex reserves have depleted by $1 billion on average throughout the last 11 months. Also, there is no good news regarding the export and expatriate income. A high-level committee should be formed with all the stakeholders to overcome the current crisis. Action may be taken as per the recommendations of the committee. The number of import LCs (letter of credit) declined to a good extent. The low import of capital machinery and intermediate raw materials would eventually reduce the economic growth and employment in the current fiscal.
The foreign loans are taking a new shape. If exports and expatriate income do not rise in the coming days, there will be an extra pressure on the economy for repayment of the loans after a few years. The marginal people should be brought under the social safety programmes and accountability of the government and the financial system should be established.