TIB for independent panel to tackle economic crisis

The Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has urged the government to form an independent Economic Strategy Advisory Committee to help it tackle the potential fallout of the global economic crisis amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the impacts of Russia-Ukraine war.

The committee’s main task would be coming up with strategic guidelines on how Bangladesh can avoid or minimize the adverse effects of the global crisis in short and medium terms and how continuation of the economic performance achieved so far can be ensured, it said in a statement on Friday.

TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said the world has been struggling to cope with Covid fallout when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine exposed the global economy to an unprecedented food crisis that threatens worldwide rise of hunger and famine.

It is obvious that Bangladesh will not remain immune to the impending global economic challenges and uncertainty, he said.

“We have no doubt that the government will do everything in its capacity. However, in this extraordinary context, we urge the government to form an independent Economic Strategy Advisory Committee that will complement and strengthen its efforts with strategic advice and show the way out the crisis,” he added.

Iftekharuzzaman said that prior international incidents have already established that such crisis creates challenges to economic and financial management in nearly every country and that leads to deficit, corruption and money laundering.

These in turn create poverty, marginalization and deprivation of fundamental rights of common people, he added.

To avoid them, strategic guidance from the proposed committee, consisting of nationally and internationally reputed Bangladeshi economists, financial experts and other relevant social scientists, will add a great value to the government’s efforts, TIB said.