How much is seven billion US dollar? If one converts it into our local currency for easy understanding, then the figure stands at Tk 56000,00,00,000, which is surely an amount astounding enough to create a sense of serenity in one’s mind. But this amount has come as a shocking revelation for the nation as we came to know that hartal or general strikes have cost the country over seven billion US dollar this year.

According to Ministry of Commerce, the country has endured 36 nationwide hartals this year. More than 80 people were killed in hartal-related violence since January, while protesters had torched hundreds of cars and buses. These hartals have cost the country more than seven billion US dollar or more than 200 million US dollar a day, according to an estimate of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).

Recently, the BGMEA president also urged the political leaders to sit for a dialogue without any delay to save the garment sector and keep the economy vibrant. He said the RMG exporters will be able to bring foreign currency volume to $ 50 billion mark if the government ensures favourable environment for running the RMG units and timely shipments. Amid the fallout of a deadly RMG factory collapse in April, Bangladesh faces a more imminent economic threat from the strikes known as ‘hartals’, which are bringing the country to its knees, said a report published in The Wall Street Journal. We wonder whether these hartals were at all necessary and what political gains have been achieved by enforcing these hartals!

The frequent hartals enforced by the political parties have hurt the supply chain of the economy. The supply of essentials in domestic market has also hampered, pushing up their prices. It is the common people who always have to bear the brunt of violence and vandalism pickets resort to during the hartal hours.

The country has been receiving severe blows on its growing economy in the whirlpool of each hartal. As both the ruling AL and the BNP-led opposition alliance are still on hard-line over the modality of the next election-time government, fear and uncertainty hangs heavily all around in the country. People desperately want an end to this tense and volatile situation