Ensuring proper functioning of institutions is vital for the country to sustain the benefits of reforms and achieve desired socio-economic goals, economist Prof Selim Raihan said.
"It is vital how we can make the institutions able to run freely as they play very crucial role, especially while managing a crisis," he said, adding that a powerful vested quarter manipulated the institutions in Bangladesh.
Also, investment in human capital, ensuring justice, rule of law, reform in political parties are vital for the country, he added.
He said this while speaking at a discussion session titled 'Unveiling the Truth: The State of Bangladesh's Economy & Governance' organised by the Economics Study Center (ESC) of Dhaka University on Monday.
He shared his experiences of working with committees responsible for White Paper and a Task Force on Bangladesh economy following the regime shift.
Referring to the economic recovery of Sri Lanka, he said the Governor of the central bank was allowed to discharge his duties free from influence.
"There has been no political pressure on the Governor. He rather has got necessary support from different ministries," said Mr Raihan sharing his experience about Sri Lanka.
"The white paper identified the problems regarding economic issues of the past regime while the taskforce has been a forward looking one," he said.
Different government agencies including Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) were abused to provide inflated data on different economic indicators during the past regime, he said.
There was at least 1.5 times higher inflation rate than that of the official figure provided by the government, and public debt was also much higher, he added.
Providing a short account of the white paper and taskforce activities, he said: "The last decade was a decade of lost opportunities with limited investment in health and education."
The impact of inadequate investment for human capital development is already visible, he said, adding that Bangladesh has been already in middle income trap.
Responding to different queries, he said many projects during the fascist regime were undertaken and implemented without conducting proper feasibility study.
Karnaphuli Tunnel is one of the projects that epitomise squandering of public money, he said, adding that all projects should prioritise the need of the country's citizens.
For better governance and functioning of the institutions, he said political parties have to play vital role.
"Political parties must bring reforms within their own activities, before they implement reforms for the country," he said.
Regarding LDC (Least developed country) graduation, he said, he personally believes that it should take place as per schedule; however there are contradictory stances from different stakeholders.
University faculties and students from economics and other departments attended the session.
saif.febd@gmail.com
