By The Daily Star DHAKA, Bangladesh,
Published onPage last updated on
Speakers at a discussion in
Dhaka
yesterday asked the government not to sign any agreement with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to protect the country’s
interests.
Referring to the PSI (policy support instrument) agreement
proposed by the IMF, they said any kind of parley and revision with the
IMF should be transparent and accountable and the government must make
public the outcome of any such negotiation.
The country’s interest should get priority in case of inking
any deal with any international financial or donor agency, they
suggested, also asking the government not to go by any diktat from
either the IMF or the World Bank (WB).
The suggestions came at the discussion on Transparency and
Accountability of International Financial Institutions organised by
Voices for Interactive Choice and Empowerment (Voice).
Professor Anu Mohammad of the Economics Department at
Jahangirnagar
University
said the problems being faced by different sectors such as jute and
energy have been caused by interventions from the two multilateral
lending agencies.
"We have to oppose this and create a pressure on the
government so that it can come out of the clutches of the IMF and WB,"
he said.
"Poverty is not the problem, the problem is we have no
control on our own resources," he said, making a remark that IMF and WB
can never compensate the loss the country has suffered from the
conditional assistance provided by the international financial
institutions.
Professor Badiul Alam Majumder, country director of The Hunger
Project, said assistance from the IMF and WB could not play an
effective role as these were provided for the wrong sectors.
He,
however, said the government can receive financial support from the
international agencies only for science and technological development,
but the assistance must be condition-free.
Professor Gias Karim of Brac
University said the IMF and WB are not separate institutions; they are a part of global capitalism.
"The two organisations have been created as part of US militarism so that their interests can be served," he said.
Voice Executive Director Ahmed Swapan Mahmud presented a keynote paper at the discussion.
Source:
Star Business Report , www.thedailystar.net,
18 September 2007
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