DHAKA (PTI): Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Khaleda Zia Friday celebrated the first anniversary of the installation of her government. Even after a year her government is trying hard to pull the country out of an economic mess left by nine years of autocracy and giving institutional shape to democracy despite growing intolerance between the ruling party and the opposition.
She has introduced a market economy and privatization in keeping with her party BNPs electoral pledges.
In an attempt to alleviate poverty particularly among farmers her government announced writing off Of loans of up to taka 5000 and exemption of tax for 25 bigha of land.
To promote employment the government decided to raise the eligible age limit for government jobs —all these begin Zia list as achievements of her government.
Before Zia could settle down her government faced Bangladesh’s worst natural disaster in April last year that left over 138000 dead and millions homeless in the coastal belt and offshore islands.
Huge international relief and a brigade-size American Marine taskforce in the face of opposition criticisms about selling out national sovereignty helped her government in coping with the aftereffects of cyclone and tidal surge.
The government med its attention to economic problems and after successfully securing record 2.3 billion dollar pledge from an international consortium of donors formulated a budget and annual development program (ADP) overwhelmingly dependent on foreign aid.
But as finance minister Saifur Rahman admitted recently investors either from abroad as well as at home has shown reluctance to put in their money in any big way in the face of deteriorating labor unrest and militant trade unionism.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 3, 1992
