The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh Social Forum (BSF), a forum of NGOs, has declared to resist IMF, World Bank, ADB and other donor agencies from interfering in the country's economic policy.

"Country's sovereignty has now become jeopardized due to naked interference of the three devils into our policies," said a statement of ActionAid Bangladesh issued on Sunday of behalf of the Forum.

The Forum was formed, among others, by ActionAid Bangladesh, Angikar Bangladesh, Shushashoner Jonno Pracharavijan (SUJAN), INCIDEN and some other humanitarian agencies.

They expressed their determination at the concluding session of a programme titled "Bangladesh Week" in the city on Saturday. Angikar Bangladesh president M Helaluddin recited a mock farewell-letter for IMF, WB and ADB on behalf of the Forum at the session.

A series of programmes were held across the country as part of the week-long campaign that kicked off on October 12 protesting the motive of the multilateral giants.

At the concluding session, the Forum leaders alleged that the amount of loan for Bangladesh and other recipient countries were increasing every year due to hard conditions imposed by IMF, WB and ADB.

"At present the country has to pay annually Tk 11,000 per head to repay loans to donors, amounting to a loss of Tk 14,000 crore per year," said the statement, adding that the amount is double than the country's health budget and 20 percent of the total budget for the current fiscal.

They said the world is now facing the adverse effect of climate change caused by the indiscreet consuming mentality of the rich countries while Bangladesh is one of the worst vulnerable countries to natural disasters due to climate change.

"Instead of acknowledging their responsibilities for the catastrophic situation, the rich countries through IMF, WB and ADB are now trying to implement their various projects in Bangladesh and other affected countries in the name of adaptation which will eventually increase poverty of the poor countries," said the Forum.

It said the people of the country never nodded to any kind of dictatorship in the past and urged people to get united against the evil motive of the multilateral financial institutions.

The forum leaders called upon the government to refrain from further signing such kind of agreements and placed a seven-point charter of demands to the donor agencies and the government.

Major demands include immediate waiver of debts, stopping imposition of the hard conditions, refraining from taking any project harmful to the environment, shifting the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) management to the government control, considering the climate change fund out of the foreign development aid and allocating funds to offset loss caused by climate change.

Other demands include providing compensation to those who have been affected by climate change caused by implementation of some of the development projects of IMF, WB and ADB, and stopping massive privatisation drive in the name of eradicating poverty and simultaneously providing adequate subsidy and increasing government allocation in the government service sectors.