Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury has said that Bangladesh’s economy is on the brink of collapse due to widespread corruption and unchecked plundering over the past 16 years under what he described as a “fascist regime.” He also warned that the country’s social and institutional sectors have become largely dysfunctional.
He made the remarks on Friday while delivering a statement under Rule 300 on the 13th day of the first session of the 13th National Parliament. The session was chaired by Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed.
In his statement, the finance minister said he was presenting a brief overview of the economic conditions under which the current government assumed office, as well as its future policy direction.
He noted that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) formed the government with an absolute majority through what he described as a free and fair election and remains committed to transparency, accountability, and inclusive development.
As part of that commitment, he said the government is presenting comparative macroeconomic indicators and institutional conditions from fiscal year 2005–06, the previous administration’s 2023–24 fiscal year, and the interim government’s 2024–25 fiscal year.
According to the minister, despite the expansion of the overall size of the economy, structural weaknesses have gradually intensified. GDP growth at constant prices declined from 6.78% in FY2005–06 to 4.22% in FY2023–24, while inflation rose from 7.17% to 9.73% over the same period.
Sectoral performance has also weakened, he said. Industrial growth fell from 10.66% to 3.51%, while agricultural growth dropped from 5.77% to 3.30%.
He further noted that inadequate job creation in the industrial and service sectors has pushed many young people into agriculture, leading to rising disguised unemployment and limiting productivity and income potential.
Although agriculture currently accounts for around 41% of total employment, its contribution to GDP stands at only 11.6%, indicating low labour productivity and raising concerns about what he described as “jobless growth.”
The balance between savings and investment has also weakened over the years. National savings stood at 29.94% in FY2005–06 but declined to 28.42% in FY2023–24.
At the same time, the value of the taka against the US dollar has depreciated significantly. While the exchange rate stood at Tk 67.2 per dollar in FY2005–06, it rose to Tk 121 in FY2024–25, leading to higher import costs and increased living expenses.
The finance adviser also noted a worrying slowdown in the growth of money supply and reserve money. Private sector credit growth has fallen sharply from 18.3% to 6.5% in FY2024–25, reflecting liquidity constraints in the banking sector and sluggish investment.
Revenue collection has failed to achieve the desired momentum, he said, adding that tax evasion and wasteful spending have limited the government’s ability to mobilise resources.
The budget deficit has also widened, rising from 2.9% of GDP in FY2005–06 to 4.05% in FY2024–25.
He further alleged that many mega projects implemented during the previous government were significantly overvalued and carried out without proper feasibility assessments. As a result, ordinary people have not benefited from these projects, while vast sums of money—amounting to hundreds of billions of taka—were siphoned abroad through corruption and plundering.