Two bad ideas in the BD newspapers today: 

1. Public Health Engineering Department announces eviction drive in the slums. Talk about misplaced priorities, especially in the middle of the flooding season.

2. This is just unconscionable under a government headed by an economist and former head of Bangladesh Bank himself.  BB Bank fixes 12% interest for import of all essentials. New Age reports:

The central bank on Tuesday fixed the interest rate for import financing of essential commodities at 12 per cent to ensure adequate supply and contain inflation, according to a circular.

It’s going to be able to do neither. In fact, rationing credit in this way will ensure reduced supply and increased inflation - the exact opposite of the intended effect.

Note to Bangladesh Bank - as well as to Bangladeshi bureaucrats and army types everywhere who are pre-disposed to think like central planners from the 70’s: Stop messing around with setting prices. If you want to subsidize stuff, subsidize stuff. But stop messing around with setting prices. It never works.