World Bank Vice-President Martin Raiser on Tuesday (Feb 11) reiterated the global lender's pledge to support the reform agendas of Bangladesh's Interim Government. Raiser came up with pledge when he called on Chief Adviser of the interim government Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus at the state guest house Jamuna in Dhaka, local media reported.
During the meeting, they discussed issues of mutual interest, including the World Bank's financing of the country's major transparency, governance and digitalisation reforms, including tax administration. "The World Bank is supporting Bangladesh with a range of urgent reforms to improve transparency and governance, including in tax policy and administration, public procurement, and statistics," the WB Vice-President said.
Raiser said reforms are very important for Bangladesh's democratic transition and its future governments and inclusive growth. "These reforms will help lay the foundation for future inclusive growth by strengthening people's and businesses confidence in the integrity of Bangladesh's institutions," he said.
The WB Vice-President called for separation of tax administration and tax policy to improve transparency and governance in the revenue system. He said parliament should be the sole authority to decide on tax exemptions.
Muhammad Yunus explained his recent creation of a consensus commission to facilitate dialogue with the political parties over the reforms recommended by six major commissions. "Once the political parties have reached consensus over the reforms, they will sign a July Charter, which will be implemented by the Interim Government and later by the political government," he said.
Raiser also stressed the improvement of public procurement and the importance of the independence of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) to improve the quality of data, which is essential for sound policymaking.
The meeting also discussed the importance of a strong digitisation agenda, including details of the National Identification (NID), with Raiser saying the World Bank can help Dhaka connect with countries that have robust digital identification infrastructure.
