Economists and experts on Sunday said that the government should take immediate steps so that inequality could not emerge strongly in society as sense of inequality and injustice might lead to a lot of social chaos and unrests and economic instability.They said that inequality had been increasing along with accelerated economic growth in the country.The government should be concern about inequality as it in the long run affects economic growth, poverty reduction and economic stability, they said.They made the comments at a session on inequality and regional poverty on the first day of BIDS Critical Conversations-2019.Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies arranged the programme at the Six Seasons Hotel in Dhaka.SR Osmani, professor of development economics at Ulster University of UK, presided over the session.Osmani said that evidences showed that the ability of gross domestic product growth to reduce poverty had been falling over the last few years due to higher rate of inequality.Effect of growth becomes less while inequality remains higher, he said.‘Sense of inequality and sense of injustice can lead to lots of social unrests, which was seen in many countries across the world,’ he said.If society becomes unstable, economy will also be unstable affecting investment as investors don’t like any uncertainty, he said.Unscrupulous politicians often take advantages of sense of inequality and injustice to take forward their ideas and mission, he said.The government should take actions now so that inequality cannot emerge strongly in society, he added.MA Taslim, former economics department professor at the University of Dhaka, said that the extent of inequality in terms of both income and consumption had been increasing in society.Analysing the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data, he said that per capita calorie intake, food intake and protein intake of households declined in 2016 from 2010 although their income and expenditure increased in the period.GINI coefficient — a common measure of inequality on a scale of 0 to 1, in which 1 represents perfect inequality and 0 signifies perfect equality — also increased to 0.483 points in 2016 from 0.458 points in 2010, according to BBS data.Disparity in income distribution also increased significantly, he said, adding that the average household income of 95 per cent population decreased in 2016 from that of 2010.He also raised the question how poverty declined in the period when income of 95 per cent of the households dropped.BIDS research director Binayak Sen, in his presentation, said both income and consumption inequalities had been rising, especially since 2010. He said that growth had also accelerated in the period but the pace of poverty reduction had slowed down.Though the income inequality is officially 0.48 points on GINI coefficient, it may reach 0.51 points, he said.BIDS senior research fellow SM Zulfiqur Ali, in his presentation, showed that regional poverty was still pervasive.The rate of poverty also increased in 23 districts in 2016 from that in 2010, he said.ActionAid Bangladesh country director Farah Kabir, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development executive director Imran Matin and former DU finance department professor MA Baqui Khalily spoke, among others, at the programme.
