Policies, priorities and the way forward
Mustafizur Rahman examines some key issues in a work
THIS volume, published by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), is an important contribution to the current discourse and debate on a number of key issues which inform Bangladesh's developmental choices and options from near and medium term perspectives. The volume is the outcome of a two-day conference on "Development with Equity and Justice: Immediate Tasks for the Newly Elected Government" organised by the CPD in Dhaka on March 28-29, 2009. The volume contains seven articles on a broad spectrum of areas that include macroeconomic management issues, particularly in view of the global financial crisis as also sectoral issues that include food and energy security, employment generation, boro production and restructuring of the jute manufacturing sector. A distinctive feature of the volume is that it also contains reports on the discussions held on the five papers presented at the conference which provide succinct summaries of the rich exchange of ideas that took place following presentation of the papers. The first chapter on Macroeconomic Management in the Face of Global Challenges is authored by Mustafizur Rahman, Debapriya Bhattacharya, Md Ashiq Iqbal, Towfiqul Islam Khan and Tapas Kumar Paul. The chapter concentrates on the nature of the ongoing financial crisis, transmission channels through which the crisis is impacting on the increasingly globalised Bangladesh economy including export, import, remittance, aid and FDI flows. The chapter evaluates the impact of the crisis on the real economy and documents the demands put forward by major stakeholder groups in view of this. The paper comes up with a number of recommendations to stimulate domestic demand, provide incentives to export-oriented industries, encourage domestic and foreign investment and address adverse impacts of the crisis on the Bangladesh economy. Indeed, some of these recommendations has been subsequently reflected in the stimulus packages that had since been announced by the GoB in April 2009 and subsequently in the budget for FY 2009-10. The chapter on Food Security and Containing Price Escalation: Facts and Implication for Policy by Mahabub Hossain and Uttam Deb provides a detailed analysis of the state of food production and import, food availability, and the dynamics of food prices in domestic and global markets. The chapter points to the challenges related to containing food price volatility and comes up with a number of policy suggestions geared towards increasing domestic production, stabilisation of food prices in the domestic market, fiscal-monetary measures to contain food inflation, strengthening marketing infrastructure in food and maintaining food security through collaboration with South Asian countries. The chapter on 100-Day Employment Generation Programme: Challenges of Effective Implementation, authored by Fahmida Khatun, Kazi Mahmudur Rahman and Ashiqun Nabi, provides an assessment of the EGP based on data generated through primary survey and information gleaned from secondary sources. The article undertakes a critical assessment of, inter alia, design and planning of the programme, targeting, timeframe, selection of beneficiaries, fund release mechanism, wage rates, record keeping and monitoring of the employment generation programme. The authors have put forward concrete recommendations with a view to raising the efficacy of the programme in each of the aforesaid areas. The chapter also reviews the experience of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) of India and draws useful insights for implementation of the EGP in the Bangladesh context. The article on Energy Sector: Addressing Challenges of Adding New Capacities, authored by M Fouzul Kabir Khan, reviews the most current data and information on the energy sector focusing on availability of natural gas, offshore gas exploration situation, gas reserves, transmission and distribution of power, generation, consumption and distribution of electricity. The chapter makes an assessment of recent developments in various power sector components and attendant policy reforms undertaken in the recent past to address the related problems. The chapter provides a critical examination of key strategic initiatives to stimulate power sector development including procurement, design of national coal policy, implementation of projects, corporatisation of the energy sector, energy conservation and the state of overall governance in the energy sector. The chapter focuses on challenges facing the government regarding the power sector and the opportunities that it could explore in this regard. The chapter comes up with a number of practical suggestions with regard to energy security and energy sector development over both short and medium term. The chapter on Information and Communication Technology for Development: Immediate Doables by Ananya Raihan starts with an overview of the state of the ICT in Bangladesh and makes an assessment of the key institutions involved in this sector. The paper presents a road map for moving towards a knowledge-based society in Bangladesh through best use of ICT and offers an outline for prioritised activities that could be undertaken as part of a five-year plan of development. The chapter articulates the important role that various relevant actors including institutions, government ministries and private sector should play, and highlights infrastructures that need to be put in place to move towards a digital Bangladesh. The chapter also spells out the basic building blocs that implementation of a comprehensive plan of action in this regard will entail. The chapter on Higher Boro Production for Food Security: An Integrated Study by Uttam Deb, Nafisa Khaled, Subir Kanti Bairagi, Muhammad Al Amin and Ashiqun Nabi looks at production of the boro crop from the vantage point of ensuring food security in Bangladesh. The chapter provides a detailed analysis of the spatial features of boro production in Bangladesh. It reviews the input delivery mechanism in place and the attendant institutional arrangements for input delivery and credit distribution and undertakes a close examination of the various strategies being pursued in those areas. The chapter also presents a detailed analysis of the policies pursued over the recent past with regard to distribution of inputs and subsidy as well as the output and suggests policy interventions that are required in some key areas including seed supply, fertiliser delivery, procurement strategy and agricultural credit. The chapter on Restructuring of the Jute Manufacturing Sector in Bangladesh at Cross-Roads: Challenges and the Way Out authored by Khondaker Golam Moazzem and Sharmin Chowdhury analyses the performance of public and private sector jute mills in a comparative setting, and examines weaknesses that undermine the performance of the public sector jute mills in Bangladesh. The discussion in the chapter is based on an extensive survey of a large number of jute mills carried out with a view to have an indepth understanding of structure of production, technical and operational aspects and the dynamics of cost, productivity, revenue earnings and profit and status of debt in the jute industry at the enterprise level. The chapter provides a number of practical suggestions to raise the level of performance of the jute industry in Bangladesh through improvements in productivity, reduction in production cost, enhancement of marketing efficiency and raising the efficacy of related institutions. The chapter recommends a number of steps towards reform and restructuring of public sector jute mills under the BJMC with a view to making these enterprises operationally profitable and viable. As the preface to the volume from Debapriya Bhattacharya states, "the present publication needs to be considered in the context of CPD's sustained efforts to use its analytical research and policy dialogues to catalyse an inclusive and participatory development process in Bangladesh." In continuation of this spirit, one would like to hope that this volume will be extensively made use of by policymakers, development practitioners and experts who have an interest in identifying policy initiatives and strategic interventions that are required to address attendant problems related to each of the areas taken up in this volume. Professor Mustafizur Rahman is Executive Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue .
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