Institutions suffering from performance deficit: Hossain Zillur

Institutions are suffering from a performance deficit as evidenced in the banking sector, the share market, educational institutions, or the implementation of projects, economist Hossain Zillur Rahman has said, linking the declines to "democratic deficit."

"There is no doubt about this deficit, which has really created an understudied, massive performance deficit," he told an academic session titled "Pathways to Overcome Democratic Deficit" at a Dhaka hotel yesterday.

"In the absence of meaningful political participation, it is a cruel reality," said Hossain Zillur, executive chairman of the local think tank Power and Participatory Research Centre. 

Regarding the civil society and elite class, Hossain Zillur, who chaired the session, said the importance of studying elite psychology in Bangladesh, as the country's 50-year history has been predominantly characterised by them.

"I would call it a redistributive ethos; people were wary of flaunting their wealth and not very socially inhibited in outright displays of their affluence. However, in the present time, elite psychology has undergone a transition, and the redistributive ethos has significantly weakened," he added.

He noted that there is now a type of elite class revelling in their wealth, seemingly unconcerned about the ongoing despair.

The economist expressed hope for a positive change in the situation, saying, "Bangladesh still remains an open book in terms of what will happen, and let us all hope and not just despair."

As a distinguished discussant, Mushtaq Khan, an economics professor at the SOAS University of London, noted two significant changes when comparing Bangladesh in the 1990s and 2000s to the present time.

"Firstly, political organisations and secondly, economic organisations have changed. Politically at that time, we had two big coalitions – one under the BNP and another under the Awami League," he continued.

He observed that the democratic period in Bangladesh actually reflected a broad distribution of power. What has happened since then is that one of the parties has completely outwitted the other party and basically dismantled it, thus altering the distribution of politics, Mushtaq noted.

As he elaborated on the correlation between democratic rule and development, the SOAS University said, "There are paradoxical relationships between democracy and development. Still, there are examples of development in Singapore, China, or Malaysia without democracy. But development without democracy will not create a sustainable system."

At a separate academic seminar titled "Pathways to Economic Diversification" within the same conference, economist Professor Mustafizur Rahman discussed the weaker influence of the Bangladeshi diaspora in various countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, compared to its peer countries.

"So obviously there is soft power. But I was thinking about when people go from here to Saudi Arabia and what type of jobs they are taking," he added.

Mentioning that there is learning from China to reduce Bangladesh's single-product export dependence, Prof Mustafizur, distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said, "China has made horizontal shifts to labour-intensive industries, taking advantage of the learnings from some of the basic industries, in our case, ready-made garments."

"We know that 85% of our experts come from the RMG. But what is next? The next perhaps is assembling plants, footwear, and sportswear," he said, citing other industries with comparative advantages where entrepreneurs can shift their focus.

"Secondly, we will have to be careful with regard to how to participate in the multilateral system, how to go with the WTO," the CPD economist said, explaining what Bangladesh needs to do to get the international support measures extended for some additional years after the LDC graduation.