The government should continue providing assistance to the people hit by the Covid-19 even if the health risk brought on by the pandemic gets diminished, said Debapriya Bhattacharya, convenor at Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh.
“The economic implication of the pandemic will last longer than the health crisis.”
For example, if the health crisis of the pandemic continues for 2 months, the economic impact of it will sustain for more than 4 months, he said.
“So, there should be a continuation of Covid related support measures in view of the depth of the impact.”
He was speaking at the closing session of a two-day conference titled “Bangladesh emerging from the pandemic: coping experiences and policy choices”, organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
Bhattacharya, who is also a distinguished fellow of the CPD, presented a paper titled “The Covid consensus: Bangladesh’s experiences in dealing with the pandemic”.
He said priority should be given to targeted cash transfers for eligible beneficiaries and the protection of marginalised groups from the rising prices of essential commodities should be also ensured.
He also recommended allocation and effective spending for health, education and social protection in the public expenditure basket.
(TDS)