Staff Reporter:
The economy of the country has been saved from big-scale disaster due to the various initiatives and re-forms taken by the interim government over the last one year following the changeover of power, said Executive Director of CPD Dr Fahmida Khatun.
“Over the last one year, the interim government has taken a good number of reform initiatives of which the banking sector reform was one of the initiatives. As a result, the inward remittances and export earn-ings have increased while foreign currency reserve has reached a good position through halting its down-fall,” she said.
Dr Fahmida was addressing at a dialogue organized by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) on “365 Days of the Interim Government” at a hotel in the capital yesterday.
The CPD said although the interim government was able to ease inflation following its assuming of re-sponsibility last year, but underlying institutional weaknesses, such as low revenue collection, continue to pose challenges for the economy.
“Inflation may have eased, but many persistent challenges remain,” added Fahmida.
Highlighting CPD’s scorecard on the government’s first year, she said that the recent decline in inflation is a positive sign, but it does not fully reflect improvements in the broader economic structure,
The scorecard used green, yellow and red indicators to assess 38 issues based on benchmarks set last year.
CPD’s assessment showed that inflation control fell into the green zone.
Fahmida Khatun mentioned that exports, imports, reserves, and remittances are good while the trade balance has come down.
The CPD also highlighted the issue of unemployment and insufficient reforms in public sector manage-ment, noting that these factors limit the benefits of short-term improvements in economic indicators.
CPD Distinguished Fellow Professor Mustafizur Rahman said that the primary goal of the interim gov-ernment when it assumed responsibility was to restore the macroeconomic stability. “Now the macroeco-nomic stability has been restored,” he added.
He said the CPD had set out expectations for the interim government last year and now it was time to take stock.
On 14 August 2024, the CPD discussed what the expectations of the interim government were and thus presented them, he said.
“At that time, there was high inflation, rising unemployment, devaluation of the currency, a decline in ADP implementation, falling remittance and export earnings, a decline in reserves, and low investment. There was a challenge in macro economy,” Professor Mustafizur added.
“Now we’re looking back after one year. There is a need for an evaluation. How do the scorecards look on various key indicators?” he asked, noting that some targets had been met, others had not, and some initiatives were only just beginning.
Mustafizur said there has been progress in several areas while some have not met expectations. “Some have just started. The future political government will have to do them,” he said.
The capital market showed little progress, with continued instances of companies raising funds and exit-ing.
In contrast, SME lending policies requiring banks to allocate at least 25% of loans to the sector were viewed positively, as was the creation of a youth fund and enhanced financial support for migrant work-ers.
CPD found export diversification and tariff reforms for post-LDC graduation lacking, alongside delays in updating labour policy.
Agricultural subsidies for key food items have been raised, but broader energy security challenges re-main, CPD noted.
CPD marked the recently introduced renewable energy policy as a positive move.
On governance and social spending, CPD noted investment in physical infrastructure but little in social sectors.
In mobile financial services, it credited efforts to curb waste and fraud. However, recommendations from the White Paper have seen little follow-through, and preparations for LDC graduation remain inad-equate.
With the national election set for February 2026, CPD cautioned that major reforms are unlikely in the coming months, but urged the government to sustain macroeconomic stability measures, continue infla-tion control, expand open market sales, and maintain support for the ultra-poor.
