Failure to Stabilise the Economy Could Push the Government into Deep Crisis

The country’s economic situation moves toward a serious crisis every day. Investment has dried up, and import and export trade has stalled. Unemployment is rising, and working people are losing jobs instead of finding new ones. People earn less, and prices keep climbing. The economy has no good news, and every indicator points down.

Extortion, illegal occupation and a weak law and order situation have also made public life worse. Ordinary people grow angry and restless step by step, and signs of this now appear in many places. The day before yesterday, a report in the English daily New Age showed workers, traders and farmers blocking roads in many places. They protested rising prices, extortion and a fertiliser shortage.

The report said about 1,000 garment workers blocked the Dhaka Mymensingh road in front of Rajlakshmi Complex in Uttara earlier this week. They demanded higher pay. Battery run rickshaw drivers in Savar blocked a road to protest a rise in garage rent. People in Mymensingh marched against extortion. In Naogaon, more than 100 farmers blocked the Rajshahi Naogaon highway because of the fertiliser shortage.

These protesters come from different groups, but their reasons are almost the same. Rising prices of daily goods have made their lives very hard. They struggle to run their families, so they have no choice but to protest. Economists say people protest when their backs touch the wall. This movement is a warning bell for the government.

The IMF, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank give nothing but bad news about Bangladesh’s economy. An IMF report earlier this week says the country’s GDP growth will fall further to 3.2 percent. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank give the same forecast. Reports from local bodies also describe a deep crisis. Traders cry out in distress.

Mr. Md. Fazlul Haque, administrator of the top traders’ body FBCCI, says the country is passing through a hard time. When international bodies, local bodies and traders describe this poor state, nobody can deny it. Even if they stayed silent, ordinary people feel the crisis in their bones. Unable to bear the hardship, people from many groups block roads and protest.

Observers say these small protests will grow big in time. Economic hardship and strain on daily life were among the main reasons for the fall of fascist Sheikh Hasina in the mass uprising of 2024. India also has a movement now. It demands the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner, but economic slowdown and joblessness have joined it. It no longer stops at that one demand.

Movements in Sri Lanka and Nepal earlier toppled governments, and a poor economy was a main cause there too. Farmers, workers and traders blocked roads in many places on the same day. This shows the anger of ordinary people over the economic crisis. If people from other professions join them, it will become a big movement.

Opposition parties and the banned Awami League will then join it, and the government will not be able to handle it. Hasina’s aides hiding in the administration will also join, since they believe she will return in December. Signs of this already appear. A report in Daily Inqilab the day before yesterday said bureaucratic delays block foreign investment, especially large Chinese investment.

Bureaucrats loyal to India still hold influence in the administration. It is easy to see that these hiding bureaucrats have slowed their work to trouble the government. They hope Hasina returns in December, and they will show their true faces when it suits them. When a country’s economy turns weak, the base of its government weakens too. A government survives on a strong economy.

If ordinary people suffer and struggle to live, they do not listen to the government, however good its words. Present signs show a risk that things move that way. The government says it inherited a broken economy, but people no longer want to hear that. They want the government to fix it and give them some relief.

This hope has not come true, and rising prices of daily goods hurt them badly. The country has no food shortage, but falling income stops people from buying the food they need. Want fills every home, and ordinary people worry about running their families. Economists say recovery is not easy. The government must take bold and far reaching steps.

The government has long term plans to revive the economy, but it must take some urgent steps now to give people relief. Economists say the big challenge is to control inflation while raising investment and jobs. If growth keeps falling and inflation keeps rising, recovery will get very hard. Observers say the finance minister speaks many fine words, but the economy shows no real gain.

He cannot reduce the suffering of ordinary people, so people ask what he is doing. They say he has played no role in the recovery. If he had, why would people’s lives get worse every day, and why would people from many professions block roads? Will fine words fill their stomachs? Can they stop the protests? They cannot. The finance minister shows great failure, and this weakens the base of the government.

The government must stay alert and aware. It must act on an emergency basis to ease the hardship of ordinary people. It must start work fast to raise investment and jobs. It must keep prices at a bearable level. It must make sure owners get the Tk 60,000 crore stimulus package for closed factories easily and fast.

It must also save the factories that are close to shutting down. Slow action or “we will do it” talk will make things worse, and then they will be hard to handle. The government must remember that if ordinary people are at ease, the government will also be at ease.