The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The country suffered an economic loss of taka 2689 crore in the recent back-to-back floods that submerged a vast areas in Rahshahi, Dhaka and Sylhet Divisions. The estimated losses are, however, much less than the country suffered in 1988, 1998 and 2004. In those days, the then governments immediately started reconstruction work without looking for the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank's assistance. The governments transferred fund from the less important projects under the other ministries and successfully completed reconstruction. But this year, it is not yet clear whether the government has been doing that though an advisor hinted so much earlier.

According to a report published in a Bengali daily, the Ministry of LGED has sought for taka 1120 crore, the Ministry of Communication taka727 crore, the Ministry of Water Resources taka 538 crore, the Ministry of Education taka 50 crore and other ministries taka 254 crore for reconstruction works. About one crore and 11 lakh people were affected in the floods, crops of 11 lakh hectares of land smashed while 23,000 kilometers of roads and highways damaged. According to the official source, the total food output during the current fiscal will be short of target by five lakh metric tonnes (target is not yet known) while 5,66,506 metric tonnes of rice and 1,41,366 metric tonnes of wheat are in the government stock. The stock of rice by the end of January next is likely to reach 8,71,000 metric tonnes as the harvesting of aman will begin in mid November.

The stock of wheat may rise at the beginning of the new year to 1,70,00 metric tonnes, indicating the total stock is sufficient to meet next 10 months' demand. The country produced 2.83 crore metric tonnes of rice alone during the fiscal 2006-07 high above the demand but short of the target.

And this year, the production is likely to exceed the last fiscal year's output despite back-to-back floods. The analysis suggests that the rice and flour price must not go higher than the present's; rather, it should come down.

However, as the government of India has banned export of rice to Bangladesh, the Interim Government must take immediate decision to import from China, Vietnam and Thailand instead of waiting for resumption of export from India. It is time to lessen dependence on any particular country and to open more doors.