Interim government agreements should be reviewed: Debapriya

CPD Honorary Fellow Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya stated that the known and unknown agreements made by the interim government with foreign countries should be reviewed. 

He emphasized that the debt-liability situation in the documents, along with all the purchase agreements made by the previous government, should be examined more thoroughly to determine if there were any violations of rules and regulations. 

The previous government had entered into various types of agreements before leaving, and these were not limited to deals with the United States or just for providing ports; there were also other cases that may not be publicly known. 

He made these comments at a media briefing titled 'Starting Point of the New Government: Economic Review' held at the BRAC Center Inn in Mohakhali, the capital, on Thursday morning. 

Debapriya Bhattacharya noted that the interim government has left the country's debt situation in a worse state than it was, which is the reality, possibly due to a lack of revenue collection, inability to reduce current expenditure, or failure to adjust the annual development program. 

However, the truth is that the interim government will hand over a weaker and more fragile economy to the BNP government than the debt situation it inherited. 

Debapriya added that all these foreign agreements should be reconsidered to understand the responsibilities they impose on the new government, especially since the LDC is willing to re-evaluate graduation, and they should be brought under consideration again. 

If the transition team can conduct these autopsies, the government will be able to address many other issues. 

The economist advised that the government needs to take some time to breathe and decide whether to sprint or run a marathon, urging patience before implementing the 180-day plan and warning that it would not be right to undertake major actions in this fiscal year. 

He highlighted the big failure of the previous interim government as their inability to present any strategy paper for economic reforms, noting that the Planning Minister left at the last minute, promising to prepare a report. 

There is no opportunity for populist steps at this moment, commented the economist, advising the BNP government that if they do not practice austerity and show restraint in financial management, then starting from inflation, other difficulties will become very evident in the next fiscal year. 

CPD Additional Director (Research) Taufiqul Islam Khan presented the keynote speech at the event, and CPD Honorary Fellow Professor Mostafizur Rahman also spoke.

 In the keynote speech, Taufiqul Islam said that the first test of this government will be how realistically they can revise the budget, while simultaneously establishing a solid foundation for preparing next year's budget. 

BNP has made many election promises, which should be implemented step by step rather than all at once, because financial capacity will be a major challenge for this government.