As Bangladesh is undergoing a dual transition from a least developed country status to a developing country status and from a lower middle income country status to a high income country, greater resource mobilisation and its effective utilisation are critically important.
Summary Reports:
Presentations:
- Can Bangladesh do without Foreign Aid – Dr Fahmida Khatun
- Potential of Personal Income Tax in Bangladesh – Towfiqul Islam Khan
These findings were shared at a dialogue titled, Catalysing Development Finance for Bangladesh: Mobilisation and Utilisation Challenges. The dialogue was organised by CPD at Khazana Gardenia Grand Hall on 8 November 2018.
The findings of the two studies presented at the dialogue revealed that there have been changes in the composition of aid over time. Total aid is now almost entirely project aid. The composition of loan and grant as shares of total aid has also changed. While loans and grants were almost equally divided as shares of total aid previously, now aid consists of more loans than grants.
However, aid is still not fully utilised in Bangladesh despite the increase in the flow of external resources. To ensure more effective utilisation of aid, Bangladesh needs to improve resource mobilisation. A number of recommendations were made in this regard. Mobilising government revenue through personal income tax (PIT) is also important to ensure a smooth graduation and an equitable society. Therefore, public perception on tax compliance needs to improve since tax payers are demotivated by the inefficient and corrupt system.
Mr Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, ndc, Senior Secretary, IRD and Chairman, National Board of Revenue (NBR) was present at the dialogue as Chief Guest. Dr A B Mirza Azizul Islam, Former Advisor to the Caretaker Government was the Guest of Honour at the event. Mr Ragnar Gudmundsson, Resident Representative, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Barrister Nihad Kabir, President, Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka (MCCI) offered their comments as Distinguished Discussants at the dialogue. Professor Mustafizur Rahman, CPD’s Distinguished Fellow chaired the dialogue. Dr Fahmida Khatun, CPD’s Executive Director and Mr Towfiqul Islam Khan, Senior Research Fellow, CPD, made the keynote presentations. The floor comprising academicians, economists, researchers, journalists, diplomats among others actively participated and shared their insights in the dialogue.