Bangladesh should be concerned about its economy witnessing how the Sri Lankan economy collapsed, GM Quader, chairman of Jatiya Party and deputy leader of the opposition, said on Wednesday.
He said that he fears Bangladesh might face a Sri Lanka-like economic crisis.
Quader expressed his apprehension while delivering his winding-up speech in Parliament.
"The incidents in Sri Lanka are making us concerned, it was an advanced country in South Asia, but suddenly its economy suffers a debacle," he said.
He listed setbacks in the tourism sector due to Covid-19 pandemic and wrong decisions in the agricultural sector for the crisis.
"They suffered huge production loss, took billions of dollars in loan in the name of development, they just crumbled due to huge loan burden," he said.
The JP chairman said that for Bangladesh there are three sectors which are remittances, RMG and agriculture.
"There are risk factors...agriculture might face setback due to weather, many countries might not give duty facilities as Bangladesh has entered the middle-income group and the economy might face a serious blow if the remittances suffer," he said.
He also expressed his concern about whether Bangladesh’s ability to repay the foreign loans.
"Our reserve is under pressure. We cannot say definitely that our condition will not be like Sri Lanka," he added.
Talking about the price spiral, the opposition leader said that this has created a serious issue across the country.
"Mass people are expressing their concern regarding this, but when this matter is discussed in the Parliament the ministers refuse to accept it," he said.
"Commerce Minister said there is nothing to do for the government regarding this as the prices of essentials have increased abroad," he added.
In this connection, he said that mass people think that middlemen and syndicates are behind the price hike.
"Corruption and extortion at various levels are behind the price spiral," he said.
GM Quader said that traffic jam in Dhaka city is just like hell.
"We want development, but development programs must be taken in a planned way and to be completed in time," he said.
"People of Bangladesh are under immense sufferings due to the development activities. All projects are running simultaneously, traffic jams must not take place under the mega plan of development," he said.
