Long-term agenda needed for pro-poor growth: CA

FE Team | Published: July 16, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed Sunday said the country must have long-term agenda for a broad-based and pro-poor growth process with mechanisms of constant monitoring for taking timely corrective measures, reports UNB.
The head of caretaker government also suggested better work on economics of natural resources like gas and coal that hold the valuable potential to spur the country's development.
"Which growth-path we should follow also needs to be visited and revisited time and again. Relevant internal and external shocks also have not been properly understood yet," he told development researchers at the launching ceremony of golden-jubilee celebrations of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
"We, therefore, need more rigorous conceptual framework for this analysis of our future potential for socioeconomic progress in order to cope with the emerging challenges of a globalised world."
Dr Ahmed, an economist, mooted some points and said that the BIDS and other economic research communities can focus on forward-looking development research and disseminating its output for faster and well-planned development.
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, the largest and oldest social science research organisation in the country, completes 50 years of its establishment in 2007.
BIDS started its journey in Pakistan as the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) in June 1957. The Institute moved to Dhaka in January 1971. After Independence, it turned out to be Bangladesh Institute of Development Economics (BIDE).
A Parliamentary Charter was awarded in 1974 and the institute was renamed Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) to reflect the multidisciplinary focus of its development research.
The head of caretaker government felt that the country should develop and retain a stronger and larger pool of macroeconomists to work in a fast-changing development paradigm.
There is a greater need now than ever before to understand and analyse macroeconomic linkages and the trade-off involved while making economic policy changes based on rigorous analytical and research work.
"I therefore encourage BIDS to nurture budding macroeconomists and help develop a larger pool of experts in this area. BIDS should devote a commensurate proportion of its resources to research work on macroeconomic issues," Ahmed, also former governor of Bangladesh Bank, told his audience.
He said it also needs to develop a core set of research issues and questions that are important and need to be addressed. And these issues will change as per new findings and data available and as per change in priorities of the nation.
"Let me offer some thoughts on what some of these issues could be at this time. One, I think, we need a lot more focused work on environment and climate change, the impact on Bangladesh and what short and medium-term strategies and policies should be adopted to deal with this," he said, striking a note of caution. "We cannot afford to ignore this ticking time-bomb any longer."
Dr Ahmed stressed the need for better work on economics of natural resources such as gas and coal, which can help the development of the government's capacity to better define policies in such areas.