REJAUL KARIM BYRON

When Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed answered his phone last week, he sounded like a man who had finally been allowed to exhale. The tenor of his voice marked a sharp contrast with the start of 2025. Back then, he was visibly strained, besieged by competing demands and an economy teetering on the edge. He was navigating a minefield of populist pressures, with professional bodies clamouring for pay hikes just as the treasury’s coffers came under mounting stress.

As 2025 draws to a close, a balance-sheet assessment suggests that the change in mood is justified. Bangladesh has survived a year of economic triage.

The interim government, tasked with steering the country through a volatile political transition, has managed to stabilise the economy. But as economists say, the ledger remains heavy with liabilities. Stability has come at the cost of growth, investment, and the welfare of the poor.

To understand the sense of relief in the finance ministry, one must recall how the year began. The balance of payments was deeply in deficit, foreign exchange reserves were eroding, inflation was entrenched in double digits, and the banking sector was burdened with bad loans. Any administration would have struggled under such conditions, let alone an interim one.

The government’s foremost priority was to keep the International Monetary Fund on board. Without the IMF’s seal of approval, vital budget support from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank would have remained out of reach. This required a reset in priorities: rebuilding reserves and plugging revenue shortfalls.

Negotiations in Dhaka and Washington grew tense, at times threatening to collapse. The IMF pushed for market-based exchange rates and strict revenue targets. The demands triggered backlash at home. Officials at the National Board of Revenue went on strike, while business leaders protested value-added tax hikes on essential goods.

It was a familiar standoff between political feasibility and economic necessity. In the end, the deal held.

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