Whitepaper on state of economy to be published

A "whitepaper" unveiling the state of economy in six priority areas, including public finance, inflation, and food management, will be published following a decision of the interim government's advisory council.
To be published in next ninety days, the whitepaper will portray an overall picture of the country's economy and reflect on government's strategic actions on economic matters, implementation of SDGs, and transition from the least-developed country (LDC) status.
Eminent economist and public-policy analyst Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, who is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), will head the committee assigned to prepare the whitepaper, according to the press wing at the Chief Adviser's office.
The committee will conduct necessary consultations and exchange of views with the stakeholders concerned to prepare the authoritative document on Bangladesh's latest-available economic situation and the dos for a remedy.
It will contain the current state of domestic resources, public expenditure (public investment, annual development programme, subsidies and debts), financing of budget deficit, and state of production, public procurement, and public food distribution.
Also, the whitepaper will focus on country's external balance, export, import, remittances, foreign direct investment, foreign-exchange reserves, foreign finance flow, and debt status.
Moreover, the state of demand, supply, pricing, costs, and procurement agreements in energy and power sectors will be detailed in the paper. It will also shed light on state of private investment, their access to credits, electricity, connectivity, and logistics.
Employment in and outside the country, formal and informal wages, and youth employment are also to have the spotlight.
The step to prepare the whitepaper has been taken as the interim government thinks that the country has been facing "multidimensional challenges" for the past decade and a half.
It thinks the economic condition of the country has turned "very fragile" due to severe economic "mismanagement, corruption, money laundering, and obtaining local and foreign loans for improper projects".
A document approved by the Chief Adviser, referring to news reports, says Sheikh Hasina's government left behind loans worth Tk 18.36 trillion while leaving office. The debt status until last December is equal to the total allocation of three budgets of the country.
"Moreover, the previous government leaned towards both domestic and foreign borrowing instead of trying to increase government revenue by collecting taxes from internal sources to meet the budget deficit," it reads.
"The rampant corruption, open scope for money laundering, and market syndicates have made the daily life of common people miserable." The overall inflation reached nearly 12 per cent in July while the food inflation exceeded 14 per cent.
The document also mentions that the interim government has been facing challenges like reviving the economy as well as implementing structural reforms to address longstanding problems, capacity building of regulatory institutions, elimination of corruption, restoring stability in the banking and financial sector, reform of tax and customs policy, and attracting foreign investment.

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