Finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed has said that it is difficult to fully solve inflation before the elected government comes to power. At the same time, he blamed extortion as a major reason behind the failure to control high inflation. The financial adviser said this in an interview with BBC Bangla on Sunday (February 2). Through this, this adviser basically acknowledged the failure of him and the Yunus government that seized power, according to experts.
In the interview, Salehuddin Ahmed said that those who used to extort money in the past as well as those who are trying to grab space in politics are extorting money and other extortionists at the local level are also active.
“Inflation is a legacy problem here. Inflation has not been like this for the last two or three years. A lot of income has been earned, many have spent money. Megaprojects worth crores of takas (another problem). The problem with megaprojects is that returns and outputs don’t come quickly. The bridge is that there is no quick impact on the supply chain. At the same time, remittances decreased a lot.
The finance adviser said, “It is not that we have not been able to control inflation completely. I did somewhat. Food inflation has increased slightly. But non-food has decreased again. Increased overall. We’re trying to keep the supply as good as possible. ’
“The supply chain is broken,” he said. Lots of middlemen. A truck from Mahasthangarh will come to Dhaka. Five thousand taka rent. But in the end, due to extortion, the rent was Tk 12,000. Extortion has not decreased.
Responding to a question about reducing extortion, Salehuddin said, “The advantage of the political government is that it had political arms. We don’t have that. You know the limitation. Consumer Rights Protection Act, one or two magistrates cannot control it. ’
When asked about the issue of political parties, the adviser said, “Political parties have an eye on the vote. They want to go to power. It is now becoming a little difficult for the interim government to control the big political parties who have workers at the grassroots level. Secondly, the issue of disaster, such as the floods in Comilla, excessive rains in Sherpur-Mymensingh. I have faced problems due to natural disasters. So inflation is still very high. ’.
Asked whether the problem will be resolved, Salehuddin Ahmed said, “We are trying. We hope to bring inflation below 8 by June. It’s impossible to go to five, six, four. Five is an ideological position. ’
Later, in response to a question about the syndicate, he said, “I am trying to break the syndicate. We now have to depend on some government agencies, which are not enough. The market cannot be controlled with TCB card or deputy commissioner, UNO. They went once, then they came. The police are not as active as they used to be. The main thing is that people need to be aware. ’