'Fallen govt’s flawed policies, import dependence caused energy crisis'

Prime Minister’s Economic and Planning Adviser Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir has said the incumbent government has no responsibility for the ongoing electricity and energy crisis, blaming fallen government’s import-dependent and flawed energy policy for the current situation.

He made the remarks on Wednesday at a seminar titled “Economic Outlook and Emerging Challenges: Priorities for the Future”, organised by the Economic Reporters’ Forum (ERF), with the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) as co-organiser.

The seminar was held at the ERF auditorium in the capital, with Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir attending as the chief guest.

National Professor Mahbub Ullah, CPD Distinguished Fellow Fahmida Khatun and FBCCI Administrator Md Fazlul Hoque also spoke at the event. ERF President Daulat Akhtar chaired the programme, while its General Secretary Abul Kashem moderated it.

In his keynote remarks, Titumir said the previous government had left the country with a huge debt burden due to its flawed policies in the power and energy sectors.

He called for research on the “cost of inaction” or “cost of wrong doing” to assess the economic consequences of those policies.

“The young people of the country should know how much debt the previous government has imposed on the country through its wrong policies in electricity and energy,” he said.

The adviser urged universities, research institutions and professional bodies to conduct studies on the issue.
Regarding the ongoing energy shortage, he assured that the government would establish as many floating LNG terminals as necessary to address the crisis.

Responding to a question about how the government would finance the proposed new pay scale, Titumir said the government would soon discuss revenue collection during the first quarter of the current fiscal year with journalists.

“We are taking various measures to increase income tax and VAT collection. Different sectors are being targeted in different months. We have taken several initiatives to prevent tax evasion,” he said.

National Professor Mahbub Ullah said Bangladesh must move away from an economy based on plunder and return to an economy focused on development and production.

Earlier, speaking on the country’s overall economic situation, CPD Distinguished Fellow Fahmida Khatun said it would be difficult to describe the past six months as either a period of outright improvement or deterioration.

She said some economic indicators, including foreign exchange reserves and inflation, had shown signs of relief, while production, investment, employment and energy remained areas of concern.

She stressed the need for deeper reforms to address the country’s existing economic challenges.

FBCCI Administrator Fazlul Hoque said export growth amid the energy crisis was undoubtedly a success, but exporters had to bear additional costs to maintain production and shipments.

“Entrepreneurs have had to spend more on diesel, generators and overtime,” he said.

He called for the immediate operation of coal- and oil-fired power plants to ease the current crisis.

According to him, this would reduce pressure on gas supplies and allow more gas to be diverted to industries, helping maintain production and competitiveness.