Vow to resist interference of donor agencies in policy
Bangladesh Social Forum, an alliance of NGOs, has taken a vow to resist IMF, World Bank, ADB and other donor agencies from interfering in the country's economic policy.
"The country's sovereignty has been jeopardised due to unwarranted interference of three devils in our policies," the forum leaders said at the concluding session of a programme titled 'Bangladesh Week' in the city on Saturday.
The alliance was formed by ActionAid Bangladesh, Angikar Bangladesh, Shushashoner Jonno Pracharabhijan (Sujan), INCIDIN and a number of humanitarian agencies, says a press release of ActionAid Bangladesh.
Angikar Bangladesh President M Helaluddin recited a mock farewell letter for IMF, WB and ADB on behalf of the forum at the programme.
A series of programmes were held across the country as part of the week-long campaign that kicked off on October 12 protesting the motive of the multilateral lending agencies.
The speakers alleged that the amounts of loans for Bangladesh and other recipient countries were increasing every year due to hard conditions imposed by the international financial giants.
At present, the country has to pay annually Tk 11,000 per head to repay loans to donors, amounting to a loss of Tk 14,000 crore per year, the leaders said, adding that the amount is double than the country's health budget and 20 percent of the total budget of the current fiscal.
The speakers said the world is now facing the adverse impacts of climate change caused by the indiscreet consumption of the rich countries while Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to the natural disasters.
Instead of acknowledging their responsibilities for the catastrophic situation, the rich countries through IMF, WB and ADB are now trying to implement their various projects in Bangladesh and other affected countries in the name of adaptation which will eventually increase poverty of the poor countries, they added.
The forum leaders said that the people of the country never nodded to any kind of dictatorship in the past and called on them to get united against the ill motives of the financial institutions.
They urged the government to refrain from signing such kinds of agreements.
They also placed a seven-point charter of demands to the donor agencies and the government.
Major demands include immediate waiver of debts, stopping imposition of the hard conditions, refraining from taking any project harmful to the environment, shifting Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) management to the government control, considering the climate change fund out of the foreign development aid and allocating funds to offset losses caused by climate change.
Other demands include providing compensation to those who have been affected by climate change caused by implementation of some of the development projects of IMF, WB and ADB, and stopping massive privatisation drive in the name of eradicating poverty and simultaneously providing adequate subsidy and increasing government allocation in the government service sectors.
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