STAFF CORRESPONDENT

During the immediate past interim government, many important economic reforms faded out, as it had no economic philosophy or planning, said eminent economist Debapriya Bhattacharya yesterday.

The interim government was legitimate, but it was not elected and lacked both economic philosophy and planning, he said.

Debapriya, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), stressed that the continuation of reforms, especially economic reforms, is very important for development.

For instance, just after Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, the then finance minister, Tajuddin Ahmad, carried out economic reforms.

Similarly, reforms were implemented during President Ziaur Rahman’s regime. The then finance minister M Saifur Rahman introduced two major reforms: the floating exchange rate of the local currency against the US dollar and the VAT system.

“Sometimes even economists hesitate to acknowledge such important reforms carried out by Saifur Rahman as both a political leader and finance minister,” Debapriya Bhattacharya added.

But reforms during the interim government faded out, despite many initiatives being taken, he said. It undertook several initiatives but failed to implement them.

Debapriya Bhattacharya was speaking at the agreement signing ceremony between the Economic Reporters’ Forum (ERF) and Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh, held at the ERF office in Dhaka.

Under the agreement, ERF and Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh will jointly work to train journalists both in Dhaka and outside the capital on reforms and the progress of commitments pledged in electoral manifestos.

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