The situation in Bangladesh should be normalised as soon as possible through economic restoration. To achieve this, transportation must resume, internet services should be reactivated, factories should be reopened, and ports and airports should become operational.
Zahid Hussain, former lead economist of the World Bank's Dhaka Office, made these remarks during an interview with The Business Post.
He said, “We were in a double lockdown – detained in the curfew and the internet shutdown. There is a security problem for the common people. We have to come out of it and get the economy moving.”
“The immediate priority is to normalise the situation, which means reopening ports, airports, factories, and shops.”
Zahid Hussain believes that the interim government should quickly take the initiative to reopen educational institutions.
He said, “Changes have come to Bangladesh through the revolution of the students. We should respect them, and this will happen by bringing them back to the classroom.”
The economist recommended that educational institutions should be cleaned of dirty politics, starting from primary schools to universities.
One of the major reasons behind the downfall of Sheikh Hasina’s regime was high inflation and the US dollar crisis. Leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement have also pointed out the need to control inflation. Therefore, Zahid Hussain thinks that the new government should take initiatives to control inflation.
“The interim government should take strict action against those who have manipulated the market. Besides, the supply chain and imports must be ensured. We have to implement the monetary policy properly,” he remarked.
However, Zahid Hussain also thinks that fighting corruption should be the number one priority.
He suggested that the interim government should not wait for an election. However, the mistakes made by the government in 2007-08 should not be repeated. They have to effectively tackle corruption before taking action.
He said, “Institutional reconstruction will be the biggest challenge. For example, the checks and balances of all public institutions such as the Election Commission, Police Department, Bangladesh Bank, Ministry of Finance, etc, have been destroyed. They need to be rebalanced.”
