Staff Reporter:
World Bank Vice President Martin Raiser yesterday reiterated the global lender’s pledge to support the reform agendas of Bangladesh’s Interim Government.
Raiser came up with pledge when he called on Bangladesh Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at the State Guest House Jamuna here.
During the meeting, they discussed issues of mutual interest, including the World Bank’s financ-ing of the country’s major transparency, governance and digitalisation reforms, including tax ad-ministration.
“The World Bank is supporting Bangladesh with a range of urgent reforms to improve transparency and governance, including in tax policy and administration, public procurement, and statistics,” the World Bank Vice President said.
Raiser said reforms are very important for Bangladesh’s democratic transition and its future gov-ernments and inclusive growth.
“These reforms will help lay the foundation for future inclusive growth by strengthening people’s and businesses confidence in the integrity of Bangladesh’s institutions,” he said.
The World Bank Vice President called for separation of tax administration and tax policy to im-prove transparency and governance in the revenue system.
He said parliament should be the sole authority to decide on tax exemptions.
Chief Adviser Prof Yunus explained his recent creation of a consensus commission to facilitate dialogue with the political parties over the reforms recommended by six major commissions.
“Once the political parties have reached consensus over the reforms, they will sign a July Charter, which will be implemented by the Interim Government and later by the political government,” he said.
Raiser also stressed the improvement of public procurement and the importance of the independ-ence of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) to improve the quality of data, which is essen-tial for sound policymaking.
The meeting also discussed the importance of a strong digitisation agenda, including details of the National Identification (NID), with Raiser saying the World Bank can help Dhaka connect with countries that have robust digital identification infrastructure.
