The finance ministry will highlight the measures taken on the country鈥檚 economic front under the interim government ahead of the first anniversary of the July uprising that led to the ouster of authoritarian Awami League regime on August 5, 2024.
Finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed has already planned to narrate eventful past one year at a formal ceremony in the second week of the next month, said Finance Division officials.
The macro-economic wing of the Finance Division has been asked to prepare economic analyses about the macro-economic indicators under the interim government that assumed office on August 8, 2024.
The key focuses are expected to be on foreign exchange reserves, inflation, banking sector reform and stolen money recovery efforts, said the officials.
They said that the finance adviser would highlight the negotiation skills of the government for obtaining extra $3.6 billion from the bilateral and multilateral lenders to boost foreign exchange reserves which had been falling since August 2021. The reserves rose to $22.6 billion as of June 25 after falling to as low as $18 billion during the Awami League regime.
The interim government has brought down inflation but the rate still remains high as the monthly inflation has been hovering close to 10 per cent despite cutting the government expenditure in the 2024-25 financial year which will end on June 30.
It has, however, has made progress in restoring rules and norms for management of the banking sector by exposing damage inflicted during the ousted Awami League regime.
As the bank sector ills were exposed by the interim government, it was found that 10 commercial banks collectively had over Tk聽3 lakh crore in defaulted loans as of March 2025, accounting for nearly 71.4 per cent of the total Tk 4.2 lakh crore non-performing loans in the country鈥檚 banking sector, according to Bangladesh Bank.
Four state-run banks held Tk 1,36,780 crore in NPLs, while six private commercial banks had Tk 1,63,220 crore in NPLs at the end of March.
The one year鈥檚 performance will also include reforms on the revenue front.
The interim government has dissolved the National Board of Revenue and created two new divisions under the finance ministry with the aim of improving efficiency of revenue administration, reducing conflict of interests and widening the country鈥檚 tax base.
NBR officials and employees, however, have been staging protests against the decision.
Besides, the interim government has rationalised revenue expenditure given to many on political consideration by the ousted regime.