Jasim Uddin Sarker
Lenders and development partners on Sunday asked the government to include the issues of freedom of the judiciary and human rights violation in the draft of the sixth Five Year Plan.
They also asked the government to address concerns over reducing the independence of oversight institutions and regulatory bodies, increasing politicisation of the civil service, lack of clarity in local government rules and responsibilities in the draft SFYP.
The lenders and partners placed their recommendations on the SFYP at a meeting with government high-ups including finance minister AMA Muhith and planning minister AK Khandaker in the National Economic Council's conference room on Sunday.
The lenders came up with the recommendations two days after the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, on April 8 in Washington released the 2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices expressing serious concerns over the human rights situation in Bangladesh including extrajudicial killings, custodial deaths, politicisation of the judiciary, discrimination against women, and violence against women and children.
Representative of lending agencies and foreign diplomats, led by Ellen Goldstein, country director of the World Bank and co-chairman of the Local Consultative Group (a body of development partners in the country), observed that if the judiciary becomes fully independent the incidence of human rights violation would be reduced.
So they asked for an unambiguous commitment to the independence of judiciary in the SFYP.
They also asked for more specific strategies for key areas like civil service reform, combating corruption, strengthening of local government bodies and promoting e-governance.
They recommended reviewal of the plan's growth target in response to the less favourable global environment which is creating pressure on balance of payment and fuelling inflation.
The General Economics Division of the Planning Commission has formulated the sixth Five-Year Plan with the objective of cutting poverty by 10 percentage points and boosting the economy at an average rate of 7.3 per cent during the five-year period till financial year 2015.
The lenders pointed that the strategy to accelerate growth depends critically on more effective use of public resources, which require strengthened public financial management system.
'The document [plan] should underscore the main challenges to public resource use. Increasing the domestic revenue mobilisation, improving the quantity and quality of public investment are necessary,' the lenders opined.
Representatives of lenders like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank and development partners including Japan, USA and the United Kingdom were present at the meeting.
They also recommended that private sector investment needs to be increased to 4 per cent of the GDP, and targets should be set for investment, climate reform, promotion of regional trade and skill development.
A strategy to capitalise on agglomeration economies is needed to remove regional disparity and decentralise growth, they said.
Food security needs to get greater attention and a more holistic approach is needed to strengthen governance with specific strategies in key areas, suggested the development partners.
'Development partners made six suggestions after scrutinising the draft SFYP. We will consider them if they are beneficial to the country,' planning minister AK Khandaker told reporters after the meeting.
He said the government asked the development partners to provide import financing for tackling inflationary pressure and concessional loans for maintaining the balance of payment.
'We have asked development partners for more import financing to tackle the growing inflation fuelled by the high prices of commodities in the international market,' he said.
Member of the Planning Commission, Shamsul Alam, said that they had also sought concessional loans to help the country to maintain the balance of payment in the face of rising import bills.
Bangladesh will require Tk 13.3 trillion to execute the Five Year Plan which will be finalised by the May 31, he said.
Source: New Age
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