Employment should be emphasised in the upcoming year

The middle-and-lower income people in the country are still feeling the impact of Covid-19 pandemic and we have to create employment opportunities for them if we want to overcome the situation.

Otherwise, people will have to struggle to keep up with rising commodity prices as their purchasing power has decreased, along with declining incomes. This is what people are suffering from the most. Many people have lost all their small savings and moved to the villages from the city areas.

The government needs to bring inflation under control to address the issues.

The government has been successful in controlling the Covid-19 situation in the country. They provided various incentive packages for different sectors. However, the incentives for small and medium entrepreneurs have not been disbursed properly. This is a failure.

The decision to increase the fuel oil price was a wrong one, which will also impact the people in the upcoming year. It will increase the production cost of many industrial and agricultural products. The overall pressure will fall on the consumer, who has to spend extra money to buy their daily necessities. This extra pressure will reduce consumption, which will in reverse also reduce production.

There is no alternative to increase people's income and purchasing power. For this, the government has to make various plans to increase employment opportunities for people.

Ghulam Rahman is the president of Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB)