Cost-cutting gimmick

The consumers felt they were being subjected to the consequence of the government's action raising the fuel prices and, the austerity move therefore went down with them as a tactical measure to divert public attention away from the psychological fallout of the rising oil price which was an unpopular move anyway.

Now, it seems it wasn't even a prudential act. Altogether, Tk 37 crore will be saved out of the estimated revenue budget expenditure amounting to Tk 39,110 crore if the austerity measures are carried out. This is a drop in the sea of deficits. The heads under which much more money could be saved have been left untouched. For instance, there is ample scope under the unforeseen expenditure, services and supplies, and acquisitions of assets and works heads where the total allocation stands at Tk 7,546 crore. Surely, we could do without buying land and constructing buildings on a scale originally envisaged. Curiously, no cap has been put on buying new vehicles.

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By far the biggest scope exists in the ADP allocations to cut back on, not so much in the revenue budget, because of the simple reason that money is often wasted on development projects adopted on political considerations, especially those devoted to Prime Minister's commitments, or undertaken in lofty public interest.

We hear that due to lack of funding from multilateral financing institutions the government may be constrained to go for the Suppliers' Credit entailing high interest rate depletions. We must do all in our power to avert such a course.

In the ultimate analysis, austerity is a matter of governance efficiency, containment of corruption and ridding the system of wasteful management that places individual and group interests above national priorities.