A FEW issues having serious implications on the economy that a section of economists came up with at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies Annual Conference 2022 should serve as the springboard for the government to jump into some planning and some action. Economist Wahiduddin Mahmud, who gave a lecture titled ‘Rethinking Socialism for Democratic Development Countries’ at the event on December 1, the first day of the three-day event, says that many conglomerates do not repay bank loans although they make profits, which are, in fact, transferred abroad legally or illegally. While this happens, loans of such conglomerates are rescheduled with the waiver of interest on grounds that the companies in question need to remain afloat in the interests of the economy. Such a proposition, which the government appears to know well of, should prod the government into stringent action as there is no point in looking after the interest of the companies for the sake of the very economy that they keep hurting. The observation and its implications hold water especially at a time when Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd has run to a loan scam of Tk 300 billion at the hands of the Chattogram-based S Alam Group, which a central bank audit report says is entitled to a loan amount of Tk 2.15 billion.
The economist at hand also says that loans should be extended in…
