Courtesy BDNews24

• 

Bangladesh’s economy is robust” and the government has been exercising extreme caution” so that the country does not face a crisis like that of Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said.

She made the remarks after Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader expressed concern over the risks facing Bangladesh’s economy in parliament on Wednesday. He fears Bangladesh may not also be able to repay loans if its economy suffers the way Sri Lanka has.

Hasina then said, This [Sri Lanka’s crisis] is real. But one thing I want to say to him is that we’ve repaid loans taken for development in time since we formed the government.”

Quader said Sri Lanka’s economy is based on tourism and agriculture. While tourism in the country was hit by the coronavirus pandemic, agriculture suffered due to wrong decisions by the government.

They [Sri Lanka] borrowed billions of dollars in the name of development before collapsing under pressure of loans. Now they cannot repay,” the Jatiya Party chief said.

If the three main planks of Bangladesh’s economy — garment export, remittances and agriculture — take a hit like Sri Lanka’s, Quader said he wonders whether Bangladesh will be able to repay the loans it is taking for development.

We can’t say for sure whether our condition will not be like that of Sri Lanka,” he said.

Hasina said Bangladesh has never been and won’t be a defaulter because the base of our economy is very strong. And we’re very much alert”.

She also claimed her government is saving money in the development projects while the Jatiya Party and the BNP had taken away funds through corruption. They showed twice as much the price for foreign goods and pocketed the extra money.”

I inaugurated a 1,320MW power plant in Payra some days ago. The work there ended eight months ahead of schedule and we saved about Tk 8 billion. We always finish all the jobs ahead of schedule and save money.”

Planning Minister MA Mannan also brushed aside concerns on Tuesday that Bangladesh will suffer a situation like the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, saying such comparison was unacceptable”. I can say we [government] take every bit of precaution while running our economy,” he said.

For the last few weeks, the island nation has been battling its worst economic crisis since it became independent from Britain, leaving basic goods like food, fuel, gas and medicine in short supply and pricey.

Enterprises like shops and small businesses were forced to close because of shortage of goods and electricity and anxious customers were seen queuing up for hours in the searing heat to fill their tanks. Some people have even died waiting.

The pandemic and decades of irregularities and insensible public spending on mega projects left Sri Lanka’s tourist-dependent economy with a large deficit.

Considering the turmoil, even Bangladesh Bank has recently decided not to extend a $200 million line of credit to Sri Lanka, a fellow member in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, despite Colombo’s request.