Comparison with Sri Lanka ‘unacceptable’: Planning Minister

The Planning Minister has found “unacceptable” the comparison of Bangladesh’s economic condition with the failure that plunged Sri Lanka into a deep turmoil.

MA Mannan’s remarks came amid a public debate coming from influential spheres of the civil society, who have warned the government to rein in public spending on mega projects and have also been advising the administration to learn from Sri Lanka’s situation.

“It is unacceptable to compare Sri Lanka’s situation with ours [Bangladesh’s]. I find such comparison problematic,” the planning minister said while addressing journalists after a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday.

“The economic conditions and societies [of both the countries] are diverse. Let them [Sri Lankan authorities] evaluate themselves. Meanwhile, I can say we [government] take every bit of precaution while running our economy,” he said.

For the last few weeks, the island nation has been battling its worst economic crisis since it became independent from Britain, leaving basic goods like food, fuel, gas and medicine in short supply and pricey.

Enterprises like shops and small businesses were forced to close because of shortage of goods and electricity and anxious customers were seen queuing up for hours in the searing heat to fill their tanks. Some people have even died waiting.

The pandemic and decades of irregularities and insensible public spending on mega projects left Sri Lanka's tourist-dependent economy with a large deficit.

Considering the turmoil, even Bangladesh Bank has recently decided not to extend a $200 million line of credit to Sri Lanka, a fellow member in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, despite Colombo’s request.

Mannan too faced questions about whether Dhaka is reassessing its expenditure on the mega projects. “We [the government] only undertake projects considering people’s necessity. We do not initiate unnecessary projects,” he replied.