Economic 'white paper' to be submitted Sunday: Debapriya

The panel will share findings with the media on Monday, says economist Debapriya Bhattacharya

The committee formed to assess the current economic situation in Bangladesh and provide recommendations will submit the "white paper" to the interim government on Sunday, Debapriya Bhattacharya has said.

The findings will be shared with the media on Monday, Debapriya, the chair of the committee responsible for its drafting, said at a seminar titled Current Economic Situation and Open Budget Survey 2023 Results, jointly organised by the Economic Reporters Forum, or ERF, and Research and Policy Integration for Development, or RAPID, in Dhaka on Thursday.

The committee was established at the beginning of September following the ousting of the Awami League government, which had faced a public uprising led by students and citizens on Aug 5, prompting former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to leave the country.

The interim government tasked a team of 12 economists and analysts with producing the white paper, giving them three months or 90 days.

With two months elapsed, the committee is now set to submit its report on Sunday.

Explaining the committee's objective, Debapriya said: "This is not a corruption investigation committee, as some may have assumed. Let me be clear, we are not tasked with identifying specific acts or actors of corruption."

Instead, he said, the focus is to analyse the causes and extent of corruption.

"We are responsible for explaining why corruption occurred and its magnitude, but identifying who committed corruption and why falls under the remit of government agencies," he added.

The white paper will include assessments of the nation's macroeconomic and sectoral conditions alongside recommendations for future action.

The committee's analysis spans six key areas: public financial management, inflation and food systems, external balance, energy and power, private investment, and employment.