Will the next budget rein in unsound price hike?
Dr. Forqan Uddin Ahmed :
The relationship between commodity prices national budget and lifestyle is very close and real. How a family maintains their daily life depends on needs income and cost of daily necessaries. When the price of every necessary commodity is at a tolerable level and within the purchasing power of the common people, they live comfortably. When the prices of daily necessities become disproportionate to the financial stability of the common man, poverty, starvation and family turmoil prevail in the poor and ultra-poor families. On the one hand, due to the increase in commodity prices, the black shadow of suffering descends on public life. On the other hand, due to profiteers, black marketers, there is a chaotic situation in the country.
National budget is a detailed plan and financial statement of all activities of a state. It is the responsibility of the various stakeholders of the government to present a good budget. It can become mass oriented with concerted efforts. Otherwise it will become an issue of public suffering rather than public welfare. The economy around the world is going through a very rough and tough position. Its other name is recession. The main objective of a budget is target oriented and to sustain economic growth by redistributing wealth, creating jobs and raising incomes. To meet this goal, the budget is increasing every fiscal year. One of the biggest challenges of the government budget is generally to increase the amount of revenue in proportion to the gross domestic product (GDP). There are economic tensions all over the world. In this situation, experts are of the opinion that there is no chance for a developing country like Bangladesh to be tempted by the idea of an ambitious budget.
The authorities concerned have to control the intolerable and galloping market prices of daily necessities. It is essential that by strong market monitoring they must stop artificial price hike by a section of traders. Otherwise, many of the achievements of the government are likely to go in vain. The people expect that the authority concerned would look into the matter and take necessary strict measures so that the prices of essential commodities remain within the reach of their buying capacity. Inflation or increase in price level of essential products of households is occurred due to high fiscal deficits, poor monetary policy, unsustainable public borrowing, volatile exchange rates, demand or supply push of products or services.
Every year budget comes, the budget goes. The budget should speak the good of the common people. The budget must reflect the interest of the have not’s, education for all, to reduce discrimination of the poor and the rich. If the poor become poorer with the systematic problem of the budget, the soundness of the budget will be lost. The benefit must go to the court of commoners.The budget must have its vision. It must widen the quality of lives. General livelihood might be enhanced. It can’t be invisible. It must not be kept in papers or limited to four walls. It must be made target oriented with a group of skilled manpower & experts. Its implementation must be made honest and transparent with good leadership, coordination, and planning. In the implementation stage, there should be a thorough monitoring and supervision. After that, it is to be evaluated with its repeated exercise. Again all ADP budget should be well examined, scrutinized, investigated properly by a panel of experts. Finally, budget execution must be maintained with proper discipline, sincerity, top most honesty and purity. The budget should not be declared as a govt budget; rather it must be termed and reflected as peoples’ budget. No pilferage should be allowed to direct it in a bad shape. If there is strong coordination, good governance, and capability to manage a budget will appear befitting and can reach its goal with its efficient management. In the long run, the budget will be result oriented.
However, the following questions haunt us. Will price hike and announcement of Budget 2023-24 increase troubles of common people? How much will the new budget announcement hold the reins of the rise of price hike? Is socio-economic development possible without a balanced budget and market conditions? In this regard, two schools of opinion prevail at the expert level – one group is of the opinion that this budget will increase the helplessness and suffering of the people – on the other hand, the number of beneficiary classes will increase and the issue of social and economic inequality will be created.
In addition, political instability, mutual mistrust in different circles, selfishness, greed, extortion, corruption, in marketeconomy take a high ambitious capitalistic formula by which societal elites get prone illegally achieving asset depriving the poorer section of society. The beneficiaries of budget like capitalists, businessmen, industrialists and mediocre belong to its evil mechanism. All due privileges remain out of reach by the common people.
Only an ideal and balanced condition between government machineries and market position can solve disaster, disparity in economy. Otherwise socio-economic development is not possible. Finally, we can say that, transparency and accountability in budget management should be brought to the attention. All stakeholders including global inflation, price inflation, market controls must come up with effective measures to curb the rise in commodity prices.
(The writer is former Deputy Director General, Bangladesh Ansar & VDP).
