Even if the interim government undertakes several reform programmes, if the police force is not fully effective, there will be uncertainty about security, said a World Bank report.
There is uncertainty about the continuity of policies. There is also uncertainty about when the next national elections will be held. Political tensions may increase in the future due to differences of opinion among political parties on the timing of the elections. These reasons will disrupt the economy.
This was stated in the World Bank's 'Bangladesh Development Update' report 2025 yesterday (April 23, Washington time).
The World Bank has called for reforms in various economic issues in addition to these political issues, as per a local media report.
The World Bank also says that the inflation index will remain on the rise in the 2024-25 fiscal year.
In this situation, Bangladesh Bank will maintain a strict stance on monetary policy. As a result, the World Bank believes that the economy may be damaged.
The organisation also believes that even if the taka depreciates, Bangladesh's exports may be damaged due to US President Donald Trump's trade war.
The World Bank forecasts that Bangladesh's growth rate will fall to 3.3 per cent in the current fiscal year 2024-25. Both public and private investment are declining.
The organisation believes that private investment will not gain much momentum due to policy uncertainty and high interest rates.
As the interim government adopts a policy of reducing capital expenditure, public investment will decrease. But as subsidies and interest costs increase, its benefits will not be as much.
In this reality, the World Bank believes that reforms need to be made on a priority basis in some sectors.
They believe that the first priority in terms of reforms should be to ensure macroeconomic stability.
Secondly, to further consolidate good governance in the government and corporate sectors.
Thirdly, there is no alternative to increasing revenue collection to meet the needs of development activities in the country. This is not new. The World Bank has been saying this for a long time. They believe that Bangladesh's revenue-GDP ratio in the 2023-24 fiscal year was only 7.4 per cent. It is not possible to continue the necessary development activities of the country with this revenue.
Fourthly, the World Bank has talked about the fragility of Bangladesh's financial sector. They said that the financial sector in the country has become fragile, so it is necessary to restore the stability of this sector on an urgent basis.
For this, policymakers need to find effective solutions.
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