United News of Bangladesh

Economist Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya on Saturday (8th November 2025) urged political parties to make a firm commitment in their election manifestos to eradicate all forms of discrimination from the country’s legal and social frameworks. “Political parties have to pledge to eradicate discrimination from the legal context in their election manifestos,” said Dr Debapriya, Convener of the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh. He emphasised that the Citizen’s Platform is dedicated to eliminating discrimination in every form within legal and societal structures, and that the inclusion of such commitments in election manifestos would represent a strong step towards implementation in the future. Interim govt pursuing reforms without engaging stakeholders: Debapriya Dr Debapriya made the remarks while addressing the opening session of a dialogue titled “Elimination of Discrimination in Bangladesh: Legal Context, Current Reality, and Way Forward.” He highlighted the gap between constitutional promises and the lived realities of marginalised and vulnerable communities across the country. Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh organised the event in collaboration with the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), Manusher Jonno Foundation, and Nagorik Uddyog (Citizen’s Initiative), with support from Switzerland and UNDP. Read more: Bangladesh Election: EC to begin political dialogues this week  

Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Debapriya Bhattacharya on Monday said India and China have to look at ‘face to face and eye to eye’ if the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) initiative has to succeed. "And Nepal is placed very strategically in between India and China to carry on that dialogue. I hope that will happen in the future," he said. Debapriya, a prominent economist and former Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, made the remarks while responding to a question during a high-level panel discussion titled ‘Impacts of Climate Change, Disaster Risks and the Role of Parliamentarians’ on the sidelines of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) Parliamentarians’ Meet-2025, which began at a hotel in the capital city of Nepal. "You see, we are talking about a policy issue which cannot be successful without being a cross-border one. It's a regional issue in that way," he said. Debapriya said the eight countries - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan - they are talking about - have different types of relationship amongst them at this very moment. Each of these countries stands at a different level in their democratic and developmental transition, he observed. "But the fact of the matter is that within these eight countries, the elephant in the room is India and China and nobody is talking about that," Debapriya said, adding, “Now they are beating around the bush.” So, the economist thinks, if they have any political capital to invest, then they should be investing over there and engage with them and make them understand as well that the individual approaches for their respective country will not succeed if the regional approach or collective approach, the new polycentricism is not taken up over there. "I will hope and pray that in the future when public representatives will engage, they will engage with those public representative bodies in China and India much more forcefully than others who are already converted to it in many ways,” he said. Proposed budget ‘disappointing in many ways’: Debapriya A Bangladesh delegation led by Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT) Affairs Adviser Supradip Chakma, is attending the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) Parliamentarians’ Meet-2025. BNP Standing Committee Member and former Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury spoke at a separate high-level panel discussion titled ‘Parliamentarians' Role in Balancing Biodiversity Conversation and Human Wellbeing in the HKH Region’. Senior Joint Member Secretary of National Citizen Party Dr Tasnim Jara and its Joint Member Secretary Mir Arshadul Hoque are among the members of the Bangladesh delegation. Nepal’s President Ramchandra Paudel attended the meet as the chief guest, while Speaker Devraj Ghimire attended it as a special guest.     CHT Affairs Adviser Supradip Chakma, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) Director General Pema Gyamtsho and representatives from other participating countries also spoke at the inaugural session. The inaugural session was followed by various technical sessions.     The event is exploring common understandings, dialogues and coordination among the parliamentarians of the nations in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region. The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) sustains nearly one-fourth of humanity — providing water, food and livelihoods for 240 million people in the mountains and 1.65 billion downstream. Bangladesh need not to worry excessively about US tariff: Debapriya But the region, experts say, faces urgent and interconnected threats from climate change, biodiversity loss, disasters, and air pollution. The Federal Parliament of Nepal is hosting the Hindu Kush Himalaya Parliamentarians' Meet, the largest-ever assembly of legislators from across the region. This landmark event offers policymakers a platform to deliberate on shared challenges and advance collective, trans-boundary solutions for a more resilient future. Supported by the United Kingdom International Development (UKID) through its Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) the HKH parliamentarians’ Meet 2025 aims to provide an effective platform for members of the parliaments from the HKH countries to come together, access the latest knowledge and information about the HKH region’s issues, challenges and opportunities, share experiences about the best parliamentary practices, and discuss forward-looking policy actions. The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region is increasingly facing severe impacts of climate change, disaster risks, biodiversity loss, and pollution alongside accelerated socio-economic shifts with serious implications to ecosystems, natural resources, livelihoods and human life.   Given the significant role of parliamentarians in policymaking, legislation, and shaping public opinion, parliamentarians from the HKH countries can be crucial in advancing the region’s climate action and resilience agenda, organisers said. They, however, need access to essential knowledge and evidence to proactively advance gender equal and social inclusive, pro-planet, pro-mountain and pro-climate advocacy at the national, regional, and global forums. Despite sharing various environmental and socio-economic challenges, the HKH parliamentarians lack a regional platform to discuss their shared challenges and opportunities and identify solutions to address them collectively, said the organisers.  

Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), on Saturday urged the interim government to leave behind three critical legacies to help steer the nation back on track. The legacies he outlined are: making the gravity of corruption clear, tackling malgovernance and establishing an administrative framework conducive to building a balanced and sustainable economy. Delieving the introductory speech at a symposium titled “White Paper and Thereafter: Economic management, Reforms and National Budget” at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC), the eminent economist said the government will have to expose the economic scenario of the country which has been suffering from corruption and malgovernance. “They (govt) have really exposed the amount of malfeasance, corruption and malgovernance we were afflicted with,” he said. Debapriya warns of reform fatigue amid economic challenges Dr Debapriya, who is also the chief of the committee on White Paper on Bangladesh's economy, chief said the government has to stabilise and consolidate the current macroeconomic situation of the country. In this connection, he pointed out inflation as one of the components. “But there are some others, and with this economic stability there is social security and individual security also involved.” But, he said, although the government has various types of steps in this connection, those are not effectively visible till now. Dr Debapriya said that no reform outline is visible to induce administrative structural change for building a balanced, inclusive and sustainable economy. “We do not see any reform agenda concerning the economy and the associated institutions and the regulatory framework along with that. No specific speech from the government has come so far.” BNP urges govt to revoke VAT-duty hike on over 100 products The CPD Distinguished Fellow said it has been heard that there is a process on to prepare a mid-term budgetary framework. “Planning Ministry has formed a taskforce; we are waiting for the report of that.” But, he said, if there is no midterm planning it might hinder the investment as it does not come for one year or one month. “For that investment it is needed to have a midterm vision, we do not see that at this moment,” he added.  

Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, the chief of the committee on White Paper on the state of Bangladesh's economy, has cautioned that the pro-reform sentiment in Bangladesh may wane if the interim government does not accelerate its reform agenda. “That means the people who are now in favour of reforms at one stage might step aside from the balanced reforms due to the economic insecurity,” he said on Saturday. Speaking at a symposium titled ‘White Paper and Thereafter: Economic Management, Reforms and National Budget’ at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC), Dr Debapriya stressed the urgent need to stabilise the economy. He outlined the importance of addressing growth trends, employment, poverty alleviation, and social security. “Currently, a confrontation is creating in our country centering election and reforms,” said Dr Debapriya, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and convener of the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs. He called for wide-ranging discussions on the upcoming budget, pointing to slowing growth, a lack of private sector investment, and employment challenges as pressing issues. “Specially, the growth rate is slowing down, no investment in the personal sector and problem in employment is there,” he said. Dr Debapriya criticised the interim government, led by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, for not presenting a clear economic manifesto. He argued that this lack of a cohesive policy framework made it difficult to evaluate the While acknowledging isolated steps taken by the administration, he highlighted the absence of a comprehensive plan to build a balanced and inclusive economic system. “We need clarity on how the government plans to address issues such as LDC graduation and provide mid-term support to those lagging behind,” he said. The economist also pointed out that the interim government was operating under a budget formulated by the previous Awami League government. “This government has not placed a revised budget, rendering all indicators linked to the previous one irrelevant,” he observed. Debapriya slams 'inconsiderate' VAT hike by interim govt Dr Debapriya also criticised the lack of transparency regarding development projects. “Without a published policy for scrutinising these projects, it becomes challenging to assess their impact and feasibility,” he added. Debapriya alleged the corruption in Aman paddy collection is still going on like the previous Awami League tenure. “In Aman paddy procurement there was corruption in the previous time which is still exist,” he said. He said the country saw a record amount of Aman production, thanks to the farmers’ efforts.“But till now we do not see any success in collection,” he added. He also alleged that the farmers are being deprived of fair price like the past times. UN reappoints Dr Debapriya to Committee for Development Policy  

Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, who led the committee that prepared the White Paper on the state of Bangladesh's economy, on Saturday strongly criticised the interim government for increasing value-added tax (VAT) ‘inconsiderately’. “We are astonished to see how inconsiderately the value-added tax was increased,” he said while delivering his introductory speech at a symposium titled ‘White Paper and Thereafter: Economic Management, Reforms, and National Budget’ at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC). The distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) stated that in any country, if the government aims to collect taxes effectively, it should gradually focus on direct taxes. VAT on hotels, restaurants to be revised to previous level: NBR “We did not see any plan to collect direct taxes,” he noted. Debapriya, who is also the convener of the Citizen's Platform for SDGs, pointed out that no strategy has been proposed for individuals with Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) who fail to pay taxes. LPG price slightly hiked after VAT structure change “That means you go first towards the indirect tax keeping aside the direct tax. This has made us concerned,” he added.    

Noted Economist Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya  on Thursday called for a ‘transitional policy understanding’ to overcome the ongoing financial turmoil in the country’s economy. "The main villain of the economy is the weakness of the financial sector. The reason for this is the lack of reforms that have been accumulating for a long time. Its effects are now visible. We are unable to move forward without a transitional policy,” he said. Debapriya, a distinguished fellow of think tank Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), made the remarks at a media conversation with economic reporters on “Overcoming the Current Economic Challenges – Towards a Transitional Policy Understanding.” Also read: A roadmap needed for debt repayment of 20 mega projects: Debapriya “The current crisis is only a symptom of the disease, because of the lack of reform. He said that the government has to reduce the subsidy to deal with the crisis in the financial sector. But now it was more necessary to give subsidies to protect poor people to control inflation,” he said. He said Bangladesh’s economy is yet to go back to the pre-COVID benchmark and experiencing fragmented recovery and macroeconomic stability is under high stress, particularly due to inflationary pressure and unstable foreign exchange rate with the local currencies. Besides, the global economy’s prospects for FY23 --commodity price rise, supply chain disruption, and logistic, increase in transportation cost – are bad for Bangladesh, he argued. In such a situation the economy needs a transitional policy understanding for a period of 2-3 years to overcome the uncertainties (national and global) for stabilization and consolidation of the economy with a short-term outlook. Export-Import deficit of USD $33.25 billion, the current account deficit of $18.70 billion, and the overall external deficit of $5.38 million, these are the symptoms of the disease, not the disease itself, he mentioned. The revenue share in GDP did not go up more than 10 per cent of GDP, the share of income and asset tax in total revenue stagnated at around 30 per cent, and the budget deficit was increasingly being funded by borrowing from banks, all are the elements of fiscal mismanagement, he said. Also read: Food production, price control should get prioritised in budget: Dr. Debapriya In reply to a query, he said the recent fuel oil price hike is disagreeable and imprudent, the economy will not be benefited from this move in the current context domestic economic situation, he said. Debapriya pointed out that the government has cut subsidies in the oil sector, which are now diverted to pay the capacity charge of rental power plants. He urged to increase the interest of bank lending to 12 per cent for a moderate credit growth, and protect depositors increasing its rate to 8-9 per cent. He also called for ending the direct central bank’s interference in fixing the exchange rate, rather it should be fixed by the competitive market rate. In reply to another query, he said people will pay revenue eagerly when they can see transparency and adaptation in government expenditure including procurement.

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has reappointed Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) as the member of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP). The new term of Dr Debapriya as a member of CDP will be for three years starting 1 January 2022. He will serve in the committee in his individual capacity. READ: Bangladesh must assess post-graduation IPR implications, says  Debapriya Liu Zhenmin, Under Secretary-General of the United Nations on December 13 made the announcement, according to a media release issued on Saturday. The CDP, a subsidiary body of the United Nations, is entasked to provide independent advice to ECOSOC on development policy issues. READ: Dhaka-Beijing ties can be prime mover for Bangladesh’s transformation: Debapriya The committee is also responsible for deciding inclusion in and graduation from the least developed countries (LDCs) group.