'Govt can avoid donors' conditions'
Finance Adviser Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam yesterday said the government with proper negotiation skill can avoid the conditions tagged with donors' aid, which are detrimental to the country's interest.
In this regard he said despite suggestions from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government did not accept the idea of further tightening the country's monetary policy.
“I have argued with them [IMF] regarding this issue and convinced them that such policy would not be good for us,” the adviser said while addressing the concluding session of an international conference on 'Development Prospects of Bangladesh: Emerging Challenges' organised by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies.
The session was chaired by Prof Nurul Islam, emeritus fellow of International Food Policy Research Institute. Rehman Sobhan, chairman of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), economist Wahiduddin Mahmud, Gustav Ranis, professor emeritus of Yale University, USA, and Dr Mahbub Hossain, executive director of BRAC, among others, spoke at the session.
Rehman Sobhan said as the farmers are not getting proper prices of their produces, the government can consider steps so that the agro-based enterprises can reserve a portion of their IPOs for the farmers.
Wahiduddin Mahmud pointed out that improving governance is a big challenge for Bangladesh in various sectors including education and health services.
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