<div style="text-align: justify; "><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Bangladesh's economy has now become “sick and fragile” due to widespread plundering, corruption, and illicit transfer of money abroad by ruling party leaders, said BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.</span><br></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said this while speaking at a programme at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office on Sunday.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rizvi said the reserve will diminish further as the government will need to use $4 billion to clear overdue bills in the power sector.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Nearly 50 billion taka has been embezzled, depleting the reserves. The government currently holds $13 billion in foreign reserves, actually, there is only $7 to $8 billion in the reserves,” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Sheikh Hasina's development seems like applying lipstick to the lips of a malnourished and dark woman. Bangladesh's economy will appear the same if you glorify a distressed and afflicted woman with cosmetics. Bangladesh's economy is sick,” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Expressing worry about the faltering economy, the BNP leader likened the nation's situation to inhabiting an empty abyss, where solid ground seemed to be slipping away.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Only from the banks, Tk 12,000 crore has been plundered. This isn't my statement; it's the statement of the CPD. About 12 percent of our GDP has been lost this way...can it be imagined?” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On the other hand, Rizvi said Tk 92,000 crores have disappeared from the bank account alone. “Who are the looters? Who are these oligarchs? All these are people close to power. They either belong to Awami League or Awami League's money providers. They amassed huge wealth and money.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said the number of loan defaulters is growing alarmingly as the outstanding loans in the banking sector stood at Tk 156,039 crore.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rizvi said journalists are not allowed to enter the Bangladesh Bank so that the country’s people or the international community do not know about how the ruling party leaders have been plundering public money.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">People think that joining the elections under this dummy government means going against democracy, truth, and justice. We strongly believe that the people will respond to our call as they did in the first phase by boycotting the polls, he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/fas</div>