Dhaka: Outlining the government's economic strategy, Prime Minister's Finance and Planning Adviser Dr Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir on Friday said Bangladesh needs an investment-driven development model tailored to domestic realities and changing global geoeconomic conditions. "We need to pursue a model where investment leads to production, production creates employment, employment increases revenue without raising tax rates, and that revenue finances education, health, and social security," he said.
According to United News of Bangladesh, the economist made the remarks during a session at the Bengal Delta Conference 2026 (BDC 2026), moderated by Mushtaq Khan, a Professor of Economics at SOAS University of London. The conference, themed 'Bangladesh and a Changing World: Uncharted Times, Emerging Orders, and The Politics of Care,' comes at a moment of transition for both Bangladesh and the global order.
Dr Titumir reiterated the government's goal of gradually increasing spending on education, healthcare, and social protection while moving towards a democratic welfare state. He stated that the government is working to introduce a universal lifecycle-based social security system to protect vulnerable people from falling into poverty during economic shocks.
He also stressed reforms in education and healthcare, saying the focus would be on skills development, citizenship education, innovation, and building a national health system reaching grassroots communities. Highlighting governance reforms, Dr Titumir emphasized that legitimacy, accountability, and transparency are central to the government's approach.
Dr Titumir discussed the fiscal situation, noting that the government inherited a fragile fiscal condition but now has both the political mandate and responsibility to pursue transformative reforms. He highlighted the importance of institutional reforms over higher tax rates for revenue mobilization, explaining that reducing leakages and improving enforcement had already produced encouraging results.
The adviser also addressed financial sector issues, including non-performing loans and bank recapitalization, and expressed the government's commitment to ending the "auction market" for Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs). He stressed that taxation and public expenditure decisions should be guided by Parliament rather than discretionary executive actions.
Calling industrialization critical for long-term resilience, Dr Titumir said Bangladesh has revived discussions on industrial policy after years of neglect. He emphasized the need to expand productive capacity, ensure energy security, improve competitiveness, and diversify exports as the country prepares for graduation from the Least Developed Country (LDC) category in 2029.
Expressing optimism about the government's reform agenda, Dr Titumir said the administration expects to deliver tangible results during the current fiscal year. He also referred to external economic pressures, noting that Bangladesh had to spend about $3.46 billion to absorb the impact of the Middle East crisis and global energy price shocks despite having no role in creating those challenges.