CPD IRBD FY15 State of Bangladesh Economy June 2015

State of the Bangladesh Economy in FY2015
and the Closure of Sixth Five Year Plan
Dhaka: 1 June 2015

Contents
• Section I: Introduction
• Section II: Macroeconomic Management in FY2015 and Outlook for
FY2016
• Section III: Recent Dynamics of Rice Price in Bangladesh: Is There an
Incentive Failure?
• Section IV: Assessment of Progress of Fast Track Projects
• Section V: Analysis of Implementation of the Sixth Five Year Plan (SFYP):
Examining the Benchmark Condition for FY2016
CPD (2015): State of the Bangladesh Economy in FY2015 2

Expert Group Consultation
The CPD team is grateful to all of those presented at the consultation on 10 May
2015 for sharing their views, insights and comments on the draft report
Dr Monzur Hossain
Senior Research Fellow
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)
Dr A B Mirza Azizul Islam
Former Advisor to the Caretaker Government
Ministries of Finance and Planning
Dr Ahsan Habib Mansur
Executive Director, Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh and
Former Division Chief
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Mr Syed Nasim Manzur
President,
Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI)
Mr Md Aminur Rahman
Former Member, Income Tax Policy
National Board of Revenue (NBR)
Dr Quazi Shahabuddin
Former Director General
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)
Dr Mohammed Helal Uddin
Director, Economic Research Group (ERG) and
Associate Professor
Department of Economics, University of Dhaka

CPD IRBD 2015 Team
Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Executive Director, CPD and Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya,
Distinguished Fellow, CPD were in overall charge of preparing this report as the Team Leaders.
Lead contributions were provided by Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Additional Research Director
(Section IV and V) and Mr Towfiqul Islam Khan, Research Fellow, CPD (Section II). Section III of this
report was contributed by Dr Quazi Shahabuddin, former Director General, Bangladesh Institute of
Development Studies (BIDS).
Valuable research support was received from Mr Md. Zafar Sadique, Senior Research Associate; Ms
Meherun Nesa, Research Associate; Ms Farzana Sehrin, Research Associate; Mr Md. Naimul Gani
Saif, Research Associate; Mr Mohammad Afshar Ali, Research Associate; Ms Shahida Pervin,
Research Associate; Mr Mostafa Amir Sabbih, Research Associate; Ms Nashia Zaman, Research
Associate; Mr Ariful Islam, Research Associate; Ms Refaya Rashmin, Research Associate; Mr Estiaque
Bari, Research Associate, CPD and Mr Abul Kalam Azad, Lecturer, Department of Economics,
University of Dhaka.
Mr Towfiqul Islam Khan was the Coordinator of the CPD IRBD 2015 Team.
The CPD IRBD 2015 Team would like to register its sincere gratitude to Professor Rehman Sobhan,
Chairman, CPD for his advice and guidance in preparing this report.

Section I. Introduction
• Notwithstanding continued prevalence of an atmosphere of “democratic
discomfort” fiscal year 2014-15 (FY2015), in Bangladesh economy closing
with a number of macroeconomic advantages
• lower inflation
• declining interest rate
• stable exchange rate
• manageable fiscal deficit
• positive balance of payment
• augmented foreign exchange reserve
• low level of global commodity prices including that of oil
• The developing Asia managed to accelerate their growth but the major
advanced economies are growing at an uneven pace

Section I. Introduction
• Some of the fault lines of the elapsing fiscal year included
• unachieved revenue targets
• low flow of foreign assistance
• sluggish exports to the US market
• failure to ensure incentive price to the rice farmers
• Acceleration in private investment remained an illusive target
• Admittedly all these opportunities and challenges are going to define the
benchmarks for the next fiscal year FY2016
• The upcoming fiscal year is also unique as it will coincide with
• Seventh Five Year Plan (7FYP)
• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - national governments,
demonstrating ownership, has to be in the driver’s seat of implementation

Section II. Macroeconomic Management in
FY2015 and Outlook for FY2016
• Provisional GDP growth
estimate (6.5 %) was found
to be higher than
expectations
• Driven by manufacturing
growth rate (10.3%)
Sectors FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15
Agriculture sector 0.52 0.41 0.70 0.48
Crop Sector 0.18 0.06 0.34 0.12
Other
agriculture
0.34 0.35 0.36 0.37
Industry sector 2.47 2.59 2.27 2.72
Manufacturing 1.69 1.80 1.60 1.93
Other industry 0.78 0.79 0.67 0.80
Services sector 3.43 2.88 2.92 3.02
Tax less subsidy 0.10 0.13 0.16 0.28
GDP 6.52 6.01 6.06 6.51
GDP Growth Rate (%)
Contribution to GDP Growth Rate (%)
• Food products,
pharmaceuticals and
medical chemicals,
non-metallic mineral
products mainly
contributed the high
manufacturing growth
– not apparel and
textile

• Per capita GNI is estimated to be USD 1,314
• An increased likelihood that Bangladesh is graduating to lower-middle-income
status in next year
• In FY2014 per capita GNI was USD 1,084
• Last time the threshold was USD 1,045 (Atlas method)
• But not considered for graduation from LDC in 2015 review
• If Bangladesh can make the final push it is still possible for Bangladesh to meet
the graduation thresholds by 2018, graduate out of the LDC group in 2024
Year of
Review
EVI HAI
GNI per
capita ($)
2006 25.8 50.1 403.3
2009 23.2 53.3 453.3
2012 32.4 54.7 636.7
2015 25.1 63.8 926.3
Bangladesh’s performance in LDC status review• Threshold for graduation –
• GNI per capita of USD 1,242
(based on Atlas method and
average of 3 years i.e. 2011-2013
for 2015 review)
• HAI of 66 or more
• EVI of 32 or less.

• Since FY2012, private sector
investment growth has stagnated
• The proxy indicators indicated a
mixed picture –
• Credit to private sector: 13.6%
(Mar’15)
• Term Loan: 45.2% (Jul-Mar FY15)
Private investment (% of GDP)
• Growth of payments against capital machinery import was also impressive –
23.0% (Jul-Mar FY15)
• Four of the items (in the categories aeroplanes and other aircraft, compression-
ignition internal combustion piston engines, and machines for treating metal
including electric wire and transformers [power handling capacity 16-500]) show
very high growth in their value
• Possibility of illicit financial flow through import of capital machinery
• On a welcome note, following the CPD’s repeated assessment, the central bank
has recently has started scrutinising bills of entry (BoE) received from
commercial banks to unearth possible capital flight in the form of capital
machinery import

• Results from CPD’s rapid business environment assessment survey
• Extensive money laundering was taking place through formal banking system -
62.5%
• Investment environment could deteriorate further – 60.7%
• Pessimistic view -
• improve infrastructure (67.8%)
• timely implementation (76.7%)
• Major obstacles –
• corruption
• inadequate infrastructure
• inefficient government bureaucracy
• government instability
• limited access to financing

Anticipated revenue shortfall is a reality in FY15, but will the lesson be
learnt for FY16?
• NBR’s tax revenue collection growth was 12.4% (Jul-Feb FY15; target 34.4%)
• Import duty and supplementary duty collections are on track
• Non-tax revenue growth was (-) 32.2% (worth Tk. 5,619 crore less)
• Overall revenue collection may fall short by Tk. 30,000 cr. (Target: Tk. 182,954 cr.)
Targets and achieved revenue growth in FY15
• A realistic revision of the
revenue targets for the
ongoing fiscal year is
warranted.

Several policy decisions will determine the public expenditure outlay in
FY16
• As of February of FY15, non-development expenditure comprised only 46.9 %
of total expenditure planned for the FY15 (only 1.1% growth)
• “Pay and Allowances” recorded 13.4% growth (Target 9% growth)
• Interest payments as well as subsidies and current transfers, remained well
below their respective targets
• Overall capital expenditure growth was negative (SoEs received Tk. 1,716 cr.)
• An additional Tk. 13,000 will be set aside to implement the new pay scale for
government officials in FY16
• There may potentially be pressure for domestic interest payments in FY16 in view
of the buoyant NSD sale in FY15
• Subsidy requirements are expected to remain at downside
• Government should consider a marginal adjustment of electricity and gas prices
and keep the petroleum prices as they are in FY16

Raising efficacy of subsidy management call for design of a
comprehensive national subsidy policy
• Amount of subsidy allocations have been significant, reaching Tk. 33.5 thousand
crore or 2.8% of GDP in FY13 albeit coming down somewhat to Tk. 26.0 thousand
crore or equivalent to 1.7% of the GDP in FY15
• Recently CPD held a dialogue titled ‘Understanding Efficiency and Distributional
Equality of Subsidy in Bangladesh’
• Discussions underpinned the urgency of revisiting the issue of subsidy
• emphasised the need to inculcate discipline and transparency
• subsidy as a policy tool should be pursued in terms of its distribution,
rationale, sectoral distribution, allocation, targeting and management

It is reckoned that the proposed National Subsidy Policy could consider the
following elements:
a. a clearly articulated definition of ‘subsidies’ where sectors, forms and modalities
will be articulated in a transparent manner;
b. a comprehensive guideline which will articulate principles for inter-sectoral and
inter-agency distribution, allocation and targeting of subsidies;
c. will have built-in provisions for mid-course correction in view of changing
domestic and global contexts, particularly with respect to global market
volatilities and shocks, and natural disasters and exigencies;
d. be tuned to reactive needs in view of subsidy and other support policies pursued
by import-source and export-competing countries (with provisions of imposing
counter-veiling duties);

e. take cognizance of WTO subsidy discipline and rules to ensure compatibility;
f. take into account positive and negative externalities of subsidies and take
cognizance of environmental consequences and second round effects;
g. where feasible, to propose subsidy-specific time line and phase-out period;
h. will be informed by advantage of ICT in selection, targeting and monitoring in
the context of subsidy management;
i. maintain a reliable and comprehensive database on subsidy which would help
with transparency and accountability and strengthen monitoring of subsidy
management.

Implementation of the ADP remained business as usual in FY15, hence
there is a need for a breakthrough in FY16
• In first 10 months actual spending under the ADP was 51.8% of the originally
planned allocation of Tk. 80,315 cr.
• RADP for FY15 downsized to Tk. 75,500 cr.
• The size of the ADP for FY16 has earmarked Tk. 97,000 cr.
Allocation as % of GDP Expenditure as % of GDP
• as % share of GDP, both allocation and actual spending increased gradually since
FY09, reaching the levels of the early 2000s
• Project aid spending has remained consistently below 1.5% of GDP since FY03

• CPD has selected a set of 26 projects under the ADP for FY15
• 14 of the 26 projects were supposed to be completed in FY15
• Actual spending on these 26 were 17% during Jul-Nov FY15 (actual spending on all
ADP projects were 13%)
• However, only Tk. 5,362 crore was earmarked for 14 completing projects in the
RADP FY15 while a total allocation of Tk. 21,392 crore was needed for their timely
completion
• Combined financial progress on these 14 projects until November of FY2015 was
41.8%
• It appears almost all of these projects will not be completed in FY15 and will be
carried forward to the ADP for FY16

The financing mix for the budget deficit will be a challenge in FY16
• budget deficit was well within the planned limit in FY15
• A significant revenue shortfall will be offset by lower public expenditure
• key feature in FY15 was buoyant sale of high-yield national savings certificates
• lack of utilisation capacity for foreign resources remained a weak area
Share of budget deficit financing sources (%)

• Fiscal planning for FY16 requires significant mid-term corrections
• Since the FY2013 budget, the fiscal framework of the national budget has been
weak
• Revenue-GDP ratio will decline for the third consecutive fiscal year in FY15 and
may fall below 10% threshold
• CPD estimates, the national budget for FY16 may seek an additional Tk. 59,000 cr.
revenue over the actual in-take in FY15 (growth of about 38.5%)
• Revamping revenue mobilisation by widening the existing tax net and finding new
sources of revenue should be a priority

In view of the above, to achieve a realistic revenue target, the following measures
need to be undertaken:
• All fiscal measures should be implemented only after proper evaluation of
their impacts on net revenue generation.
• All fiscal incentives should be tied to returns from key incentive-receiving
sectors.
• The NBR should enhance its monitoring activities to ensure better collection of
tax revenue at source.
• Further adjustments of the duty structure at the import stage need to be
commensurate with protection of local industries.
• The service delivery mechanism for existing taxpayers needs to be
strengthened.

• Before introducing new provisions and regulations (i.e., property tax, the
Value Added Tax and Supplementary Duty Act of 2012, etc.), economy-wide
implications and the reality on the ground should be assessed.
• The government should consider expanding the scope of presumptive taxes.
• The performance of SoEs needs to be strengthened to increase dividends and
profit.
• Land development tax should be rationalised on a regular basis.
• The rationalisation of public tolls and fees should be done on a regular basis.
• Auction on spectrum bands should be held without delay.
• Offloading of SoEs’ shares to the capital market can be considered.
• Privatisation of SoEs needs to be reconsidered.
• The operationalisation of an alternative dispute mechanism for settling
revenue-related disputes should be a priority for NBR

The expenditure side of the national budget also suffers due to lopsided planning
• Dependence on domestic financing has increased, while foreign aid utilisation
remains weak
• Planning development expenditure also requires drastic improvement
• CPD identified that 36 projects were allocated Tk. 1 crore or less to keep them alive in
ADP for FY15. Such symbolic allocations should be abandoned
• Timely implementation and avoidance of cost overruns should be strictly maintained
• Besides the quality of fiscal planning, the quality of public expenditure also requires
further improvement.
• It is important to provide adequate attention to investment in infrastructure
• Allocations to health and education are also important for medium-term growth and
attainment of the demographic dividend and SDGs.
• Without improving subsidy management, a sound fiscal framework cannot be
established

• The quality of fiscal planning is deteriorating over the last four years
• The weakest link among all the indicators is net foreign borrowing
• ‘Statistical fiscal space’ is estimated to be about Tk. 10,000 crore – a result
of rebasing of national accounts estimates
Indicators FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14
Total Expenditure 3.0 6.8 9.2 15.4
ADP 14.7 17.3 9.0 13.9
Total Revenue -0.2 3.1 8.3 16.2
NBR Revenue -5.0 0.3 8.0 18.1
Deficit 10.3 16.4 11.9 13.1
Net Foreign Borrowing 75.7 72.2 50.4 76.7
Net Domestic Borrowing -29.2 -12.3 4.4 -12.3
Fiscal gap as percentage of budget (%)

Risk from inflation is unlikely, but will the additional policy space be
used?
• Inflation appears to be stable at about 6.6 per cent:
 Annual average food inflation decreased from 8.6 per cent in June 2014 to 7
per cent in April 2015: largely due to lower prices of rice at the retail level.
 Non-food inflation increased from 5.5 per cent to 5.9 per cent during the same
period.
Annual average inflation rate (%)
• The global prices of almost all commodities declined sharply throughout FY2015.
The world commodity price outlook is currently stable.

• Having large foreign exchange reserves will allow the Bangladesh Bank to avoid
volatility in exchange rates during the next fiscal year.
• As mentioned, the growth of broad money supply was lower than the programmed
target throughout FY2015.
• very low demand from both the public and private sectors kept broad money
supply growth well within target.
Growth of monetary indicators (outstanding as of March 2014)
• Overall, the outlook for inflation for FY2016 appears to be stable.
• A major challenge in FY2016 will be to take advantage of the declining trend in
commodity prices and opt for more growth-friendly expansionary economic policy.
Indicators
June 2014
(actual)
June 2015
(target)
March
2015 (actual)
Net foreign assets 41.2 3.6 20.7
Net domestic assets 10.3 20.2 10.2
Domestic credit 11.6 17.4 10.2
Credit to the public sector 6.7 25.3 -7.4
Credit to the private sector 12.3 15.5 13.6
Broad money supply 16.1 16.5 12.5

Headline indicators have improved after flexible rescheduling policy for
large loans was allowed, but no major reform of banking sector
management was initiated
• Banking sector is entrenched with large and uneven interest rate spreads, NPLs,
and inadequate capital adequacy with repeated recapitalisation.
• The performance of the banking sector is largely tied to the performances of PCBs
and FCBs.
• Spread between deposit and lending rates is a major impediment to ensure low cost
of investment.
• The average interest rate spread decreased from 5.3 percentage points in June 2014
to 4.9 percentage points in March 2015.
• Nevertheless, the interest rate spread in Bangladesh remained high compared to
those in many of the country’s export competitors – in China and Vietnam, 2.9
percentage points in 2014

• Declines in interest rate spreads were most significant for Bangladesh’s SBs (2.5
percentage points), followed by SCBs (0.4 percentage points), PCBs (0.3 percentage
points) and FCBs (0.1 percentage points).
• Traditionally, FCBs maintain the highest interest rate spread, followed by PCBs,
SCBs and SBs.
INTEREST RATE SPREAD BY TYPE OF BANK

• Policy debates in Bangladesh often relate the high incidence of NPLs to high
interest rates. But empirical evidence does not support positive relationship
between the two.
• There are many other factors responsible for high interest rate spread like
institutional inefficiencies, market power etc.
• The fallout of a number of scams by SCBs followed by several fraudulent activities
by PCBs caused NPLs as a share of total outstanding loans to rise as high as 12.8
per cent as of September 2013.
RATIO OF NPLS TO TOTAL OUTSTANDING
LOANS
NPLS AND INTEREST RATE SPREADS
ACROSS ALL BANKS

• The relatively low figure of NPLs as a share of total outstanding loans in December
2014 reflects the recent flexible large loan (more than Tk. 500 crore) rescheduling
policy.
• The share of NPLs in the total outstanding loans of FCBs has increased
systematically over time and remains above that of PCBs.
• Regrettably, no serious policy efforts were put in place to counter these issues in
the medium term.
• The central bank should institutionalise good governance in the banking sector.
• The performance of newly established PCBs needs to be monitored with special
attention.
• Ensuring fair competition in the sector is equally critical.
• The central bank needs to establish an independent banking commission to
conduct necessary analytical exercises and undertake an appropriate reform
agenda.

Violent & Uncertain
Political
Environment
Uneven Development
in Major
Export Markets
Volatile
Exchange Rate
of Euro
Falling
Global
Commodity Prices
Jul-Apr, FY15
RMG: 3.0%
Non-RMG: 1.1%
TOTAL: 2.6%
• Targeted USD 33.2 bn. will not be achieved: hardly USD 31 bn. will be
earned in FY15.
Export earnings, against all odds, held their ground as competition
intensified in major markets
Export Growth to Major Markets Jul-Apr FY15
Type of Exports United States EU Non-traditional markets Total
RMG 0.1 3.6 4.1 3.0
Non-RMG 9.5 4.3 -1.3 1.1
Total 0.9 3.7 1.1 2.6

• Little progress in product and market diversification (Non-RMG: 1.1%, Non-
Traditional Markets: 1.1%)
• RMG, particularly Woven, shifting from the US to the EU market: during Jul-Apr
of FY15, woven fell by 1.6% in the US but rose by 7.0% in the EU.
• Major competing countries performed better than Bangladesh in terms of
increasing their Apparel Export during Jul-Mar of FY15:
0.8
7.5
8.4
9.2
12.8
Bangladesh India Honduras Sri Lanka Vietnam
%
USA Market
15.1
26.0
27.9
30.9
Bangladesh Cambodia Vietnam Pakistan
%
EU Market

Challenges Ahead
• Competing currencies’ exchange rate should be observed carefully while taking
policy decisions on this matter.
• Preference erosion as competing countries are getting preferential market access
offer in major markets.
 After getting GSP+ facility in the EU, Pakistan gained
 Vietnam, closest competitor of Bangladesh in RMG export, will hugely benefit
if the Trans Pacific Partnership-TPP is realized :
 share will increase 4 per cent to 11 per cent by 2024 vis-à-vis from 5% to 7% for
Bangladesh
 In absence of TPP share of countries will be 8% by 2024
 CD on RMG in US market: 7.6%-16.5%
• GSP facility for RMG in the US market should be bargained for by the Bangladeshi
policymakers.
• Fully compliant status must be attained from ACCORD and Alliance as Bangladesh
will have an edge in terms of competitiveness:
 Buyers will be comfortable to source from a formally compliant country.

Will the balance of payments surplus be sustained in FY2016?
• In Jul-Mar of FY15, surplus in overall BOP was $ 2.9 billion.
• However, due to significant increase in trade deficit ($4.6 bn. to $ 7.1 bn.), amount
of surplus fell by 25.7% compared to Jul-Mar of FY14.
CURRENT ACCOUNT BALANCE
Import Payments
• In 3rd quarter of FY15, growth in import payments slowed down (1.5%) after
significant rise in the first half of the fiscal (18.3%).
• Import of Rice (483%), POL (40.7%) Fertiliser (53.8%) and capital machinery
(23.1%) increased significantly in the Jul-Mar of FY15.
Remittance Inflow
• 7.3% increase in remittance earnings ($ 10.4 bn. to $ 11.2 bn.) in Jul-Mar of FY15
compared to same period of FY14.
• Only 1.3% growth if compared to same period of FY13.

Manpower Export
• Manpower export in Jul-Apr of FY15 grew by 11.3% as opposed to same months of
FY14.
• Saudi Arabia has been reopened for manpower export after a long seven years of
embargo: number of workers going to KSA has increased this year.
• Still manpower export to major destination (i.e. UAE, Malaysia) is almost at a halt.
Illegal Migration
• Illegal migration on the rise due to negligible scope of legal migration in the
traditional countries. Other reasons include:
 High cost of legal migration, Lack of knowledge about the legal procedure of
job application, Extreme poverty and Unemployment among others.
• This needs to be stopped at any cost immediately as it possess a serious threat to
Bangladesh’s image and it may endanger legal migrants in the foreign countries as
well

FINANCIAL ACCOUNT
• In spite of the $ 1.1 bn. deficit in the CAB, surplus in the Financial Account ($ 3.8
bn.) kept the overall balance in surplus.
• Without attracting significant amounts of FDI and foreign aid, it will be difficult to
maintain a surplus in this account in the future.
Recommendations for Keeping BOP in Surplus:
• Export should be promoted to reduce trade deficit: depreciation of BDT’s exchange
rate can help achieve this target.
• The central bank can mop up US Dollar through Open Market Operations to create
higher demand for dollar that will depreciate BDT.
• Since the supply of Broad Money is well below the target, the inflationary pressure
is supposed to be negligible from this action.
• This will enhance the level of reserve further and it is now time to check out
whether at least parts of it can be invested in more rewarding instruments or not.

Reform initiatives need to be prioritized
• Reform agenda has stalled –
• Public services act
• PPP act
• Privatisation
• Financial Reporting Act
• Implementation of VAT and SD Act 2012
• Set up five independent commissions –
• An independent statistical commission to validate the macroeconomic
correlates
• A permanent agriculture price commission
• A permanent local government financing commission
• An independent public expenditure review commission
• An independent financial sector reform commission
• It is time to put in place these initiatives towards better macroeconomic
management

Section III. Recent Dynamics of Rice Economy
in Bangladesh
Problematic
• Rice accounts for about 97 per cent of the total foodgrains produced and about 73
per cent of the calories consumed in the country.
• Suspicion of demand-supply miscalculation
• Achievement of self-sufficiency in rice production as indicated by the current
set of official statistics
• Increasing amount of rice imports, particularly from India, despite bumper
productions in certain years.
• Unsatisfactory performance of the domestic procurement programme has also
emerged as a major concern
• Recent government imposition of 10 per cent duty on rice imports is a positive
move

in Bangladesh
Mismatch in the Data for Demand and Supply of Rice
• Since the existing practice is based on some ad hoc values of the critical
parameters, the estimated food gaps invariably give rise to a paradox resulting
from mismatch of demand and supply.
• Gross production of rice increased from 28.93 million metric tonnes in FY2008 to
34.41 million metric tonnes in FY2012 and was projected to increase to 38.96
million metric tons in FY2016
• The series of adjustments as recommended in the study by Yunus et al. (2012) in
both the demand and supply side indicates that the country was deficit in rice,
ranging from 2.05 million metric tons in FY2008 to 0.13 million metric ton in
FY2010.
• It may be noted that the total imports of rice were 2.05, 0.6 and 0.08 million
metric ton in FY2008, FY2009 and FY2010 respectively.

in Bangladesh
Incentive Price for Rice Production: Role of Domestic Procurement
Programme
• Unsatisfactory performance of the domestic procurement programme in the past
has been due to
• excessive public sector imports, particularly in years when there were good
harvests (even in some flood years) which occupied warehouse space thereby
severely restricting the ability to procure in the next harvest;
• limited access of farmers to procurement centers so that they were obliged to
sell to private traders at a lower prices.
• The uneven nature of procurement over the years, ranges from as high as 12.89
lakh tons in FY2014 to as low as 5.63 lakh tons in FY2011.
• The share of paddy directly procured from the farmers is less than 10 per cent of
total rice procurement.

in Bangladesh
• Farmers are deprived of fair price of their produce because the millers (from whom
bulk of rice is procured by the government) do not pay the farmers the
procurement price of paddy fixed by the government.
• The much anticipated “Trickle Down Effect” does not usually take place due to
superior bargaining position of millers who has emerged as a major player in
the rice market.
• Unplanned and excessive rice import has emerged as a threat to the local paddy
market, forcing the farmers into selling their paddy at lower prices – lower than
their cost of paddy production and thereby incurring huge losses
• NBR has recently (effective from May 11, 2015) imposed a 10 per cent regulatory
duty to give cushion to paddy farmers in the wake of soaring rice imports and the
fall in prices of the staple in the domestic market
• The prices of all types of paddy have increased by Tk. 50-Tk. 60 per maund in
the producing regions after the government announcement

in Bangladesh
Competitiveness of Rice Markets in Bangladesh
• There are a number of studies that have shown that rice markets in Bangladesh are
moderately integrated and highly competitive.
• Mahmud and Wadood (2012) examine different segments of the rice market
separately regarding market competitiveness.
• The first segment of the rice market, one that involves primary growers, can be
considered to a large extent competitive, although the benefits of competition
do not reach small and marginal farmers.
• The second segment of the market consists rice millers and the wholesalers.
Given that an entrepreneur has to have large financial resources as well as
business connections to be able to survive in the rice wholesaler market, entry
into this market (segment) is rather difficult. Overall, in the second segment of
the rice market, one may argue that competition is to a large extent restricted.
• The third segment (of the retailer firms) mostly acts as a channel for prices set
in the second segment (of the rice wholesalers).
• The major beneficiaries of such differentiation are the millers and other
participants in the downstream supply chain e.g. wholesalers, retailers and the
supermarkets

in Bangladesh
Major Recommendation
• The alternative set of estimates of per capita consumption needs updating in view
of changing income, price, and food habit. The task can be accomplished by
appropriate adjustments of the food consumption module of the HIES in a regular
manner. This will obviate the need of conducting a nationally representative survey
for food gap analysis.
• A rigorous study needs to be undertaken to assess the strategic stockholding
behaviour of the private sector agents and their reaction and adjustment behaviour
to public intervention in the foodgrain market.

in Bangladesh
• Regular and continuous monitoring of world food market scenario is a pre-
requisite for early planning of procurement of foodgrains from the global market,
especially for coping in times of natural disasters.
• If the procurement operations can be further decentralised at the local level, the
transaction costs that are involved can be minimised and thus provide incentive for
farmers to participate in the public procurement programme.
• The mode of procurement should be transparent and competitive enough to create
expectations among traders that a fall in prices would be prevented. Procurement
through open tenders involving competitive bidding may be explored in this
context.
• For enhancing and sustaining the benefits of supply chain management, rice
productivity needs to be continuously increased through adoption of improved
technology and other measures.

Section IV. Assessment of Progress of Fast-
Track Projects
 The idea of development of ‘fast track projects’ was first mooted at the government
level during 2013
 After taking office in January, 2014, the incumbent government has identified
six projects as ‘fast track projects’; in January, 2015 another two projects were
included
• Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project, Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development
Project (Metro Rail), Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant,
• 2x660 MW Moitree Super Thermal Power Project (Rampal),
• LNG terminal project, Deep Sea Port at Sonadia,
• Matarbari coal-fired power project and Paira Port Project.
 Present study assesses the progress of implementation of the fast track projects
from the perspective of success of project management.

 The project management success is categorised into two components
 Project success: meeting time, cost and quality
 Product success : meeting the project owner’s strategic organisational
objectives, satisfaction of users’ needs and satisfaction of stakeholders’ needs
 Using the logical framework method (LFM) different components of fast track
projects have been critically reviewed: analysis focuses on project success
Track Projects
Project Management
Success
Project
Success
Time Cost Quality
Product
Success
Project owner's
Strategic Need
Satisfaction of
User's Need
Satisfaction of
Stakeholder's
Need
Project Management Success
Source: Baccaarini, 1999

 Institutional Structure of Fast Track Projects
 ‘Concept of Fast track projects made a link between implementing agencies with
the Prime Ministers’ office.
 institutional structure for fast track projects intend to improve allocative and
operational efficiency.
 Fast Track Projects have been monitored by the newly formed ‘Fast Track Project
Monitoring Committee (FTPMC)’
 A task force has been formed under the FTPMC with the chair of the
principle secretary
 The committee could meet only thrice to discuss about the projects
 Task force met five times during this period
 Ensure transparency and accountability in the process of implementation
Track Projects

Track Projects
Project Name Project Cost Sources of Funding Target date
Padma Multipurpose Bridge
Project
Tk. 28,793 crore 92 Per cent from local fund
and the rest 8 per
cent from grant received from
India
2018
Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit
Development Project (Metro
Rail)
Tk. 21,985 JICA-Tk.16,59 Crore (75 %)
and Government-Tk.5,390
Crore (25 %)
2024
Rooppur Nuclear Power
Plant
Tk.5242 crore The Russian Government
(90%) and the Government
of Bangladesh (10%)
Unit 1: 2017
Unit 2: 222
Rampal Power Project Tk. 14510 crore 30% India-Bangladesh equal
partnership, 70% loan
2019
LNG terminal project N/A N/A 2016
Deep Sea Port at Sonadia Tk. 55,000 crore N/A 2055
Matarbari coal-fired power
project
Tk. 36000 crore JICA (loan), CPGCBL, GoB 2023
Paira Port Project N/A 2023
Fast Track Projects

The Padma Multipurpose Bridge
Project Cycle
• Padma Bridge is now at the executive phase after completion of all activities
related to the planning phase.
• Project comprises five main components: different stages of implementation
CPD (2015): State of the Bangladesh Economy in FY2015
48
Pre-identification Identification Preparation Approval Mobilization Implementation Operations
Major Issues and Concerns in the Implementation Process
 Major timelines have been revised
 Construction of the main bridge: from 36 months to 48 months, river
training: 36 months to 48 months, construction of Maowa approach road: 33
months to 42 months and Janjira approach road: 34 months to 36 months
 Major Costs have been revised
 Resettlement works (516%), construction of roads (448%) and land
acquisition (195%)
 A number of recent revision of the budget is justified
 Such overrun of time and cost of different components need to be revisited.

The Padma Multipurpose Bridge (Continued)
 Procurement issues: The selection of contractors was a concerning issue over the
whole period of the project.
 Given the fluctuating exchange rate, particularly against the USD, the
government needs to be prepared for changes in overall expenditure.
 Of the total employment of 35000 of workers and professionals, about 15000
workers have so far been employed.
 Out of which a large portion are foreign engineers and advisers.
 Need to examine procurement guideline
Project Management Success/Failure
 Project success appears to be difficult to be ensured. But, product success
may exceed the below the level of performance of project success and may
make the project a success

Metro Rail Project
Project Cycle
• The project is also at executive phase after completing all activities related to
planning phase. A number of agreements signed.
Major issues and concerns
 Underground electricity line need to be abandoned and also acquisition of land in
the area of National Parliament may cause damage to the date garden
 The area selected for construction of depot, viaduct and rail line may not be
suitable for those infrastructural facilities
 Shifting the underground lines of utility services from their existing locations
 Running by the bureaucrats although DMTCL is a company
 No contractor has been appointed for the eight packages of this project
Project Management success/Failure
 The project is well positioned in terms of project success

Deep Sea Port at Sonadia Project
Project Cycle
• It is at the early phase of planning where only pre-identification and identification
related works have been completed
• Only a techno-feasibility study has been completed
Major Issues and Concerns
 Government has decided to establish a port at Paira which is not far from Sonadia
 Government needs to decide which of the two ports to prioritise
 Future construction of the Deep Sea Port at Sonadia is in jeopardy
 The Deep Sea Port at Sonadia is stuck in planning phase and poor state in terms of
project success

Paira Sea Port Project
Project Cycle
 The project is at early stage of planning; only pre-qualification related activities
were carried out.
 At this stage feasibility study has been ongoing.
 A number of preparatory works have been carried out to make the port operational
from 2015.
 The project is planned to be established under a G-G scheme.
 How transparently and efficiently government signed contract with countries
interested for the project is a major concern now.
Project management success/Failure
 The success of Paira Project depends on a number of conditionalities

2x660 MW Moitree Super Thermal Power
Project (Rampal)
Project Cycle
 The project is currently at the executive phase. The pre-feasibility study and
environmental impact assessment study carried out.
 No specific information on the 70% of cost that will be borrowed from Banks.
 Environmentalists expect a severe threat to the mangrove forest of Sundarbans
 Deviation in the approval process: DoE is not the appropriate authority to give
approval for a project located in an environmentally critical area.
 Such approval is usually given by the Department of Forest
 Earth filling at the site appears to happen contrary to law.
 Project success will depend on how effectively the company would follow the rules
and regulations: Product success would be much more difficult
53

Matarbari 2x600 MW Ultra-Super Critical Coal-
Fired Power Project
Project Cycle
• It is at the executive phase. Feasibility and EIA studies have been completed
• The project will be delayed and timeline for completion of both the plants has been
extended till 2023
 The project site is found not suitable for constructing heavy infrastructure
 Close to the sea level: needs to be elevated
 The operational cost of generating power will be high; expected to have limited
impact on tariff at consumers’ level
 The project success can be ensured given the recent progress.

Construction of LNG Terminal Project
Project Cycle
• The project is at very early stage in the planning process and well behind the
targeted time.
Major Issues and Concern
 There should be a guideline regarding the rental charge
 The contractors will finance the FSRU and as per proposal it will recover the
cost from the rent
 There is little possibility to complete the remaining works by 2016
 Delay in implementing the project has partly reduced the project success
 Product success may exceed the average level of project success and may make the
project a success.

Construction of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant
Project
Project Cycle
• The project is at the planning phase, with pre-selection, identification, preparation
and approval works having been completed
 Lack of sufficiently skilled workforce at the domestic level is a major concern
 Question is how the GoB is planning to develop the domestic workforce
 Since project monitoring and supervision lacks competitiveness, it will be difficult
to ensure a favourable price
 The interest rate charged on the loan is quite high.
 The expenditure and quality of the project may be questioned at later stage
 No third party involved for monitoring and inspection
 Project success appears to be difficult to be ensured
56

Major Issues and Concerns with regard to
Implementation of Fast-Track Projects
 Overall progress of the supposed “fast track” projects is unsatisfactory
 Distinction between fast track projects and other projects is not so apparent and
visible in terms of project implementation point of view
 Two Projects are at stage of “Implementation”, Three -“Mobilization”, two -
“Preparation” and the last one is at the “Identification”
 Only two projects made visible progress; most of the projects are behind the
schedule and even some of the projects are stalled
 Role of FTMC to facilitate the implementation process is questionable
 A number of projects have concerns related to overrun of both cost and time, a
number of the projects are being implemented without adequate competition
in the bidding process; concerns regarding environmental safety;
 There are projects which would become redundant due to lack of proper policy
planning

Track Projects
Project Name Procurement Implementation Process Project Success Product
SuccessTime Cost
The Padma Multipurpose
Bridge
Concerns raised Thoroughly
revised
Thoroughly
revised
Conditional
Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit
Development Project(Metro
Rail)
No concerns Not revised Not revised Can be ensured
Deep Sea Port at Sonadia
Project
N/A Not revised N/A Difficult to ensure Difficult to
ensure
Paira Sea Port No concerns Not revised N/A Can be ensured
Moitree Super Thermal Power
Project ( Rampal)
Concerns raised Revised Revised Conditional
Matarbari 2*600 MW Ultra
Super Critical Coal-Fired Power
Project
No concerns Not revised Not revised Can be ensured
Construction of LNG Terminal
Project
No concerns Thoroughly
revised
Revised Can be ensured
Construction of Rooppur
Nuclear Power Plant
Concerns raised Revised Not revised Conditional
Status of Fast Track Projects

Major Issues and Concerns with regard to
Implementation of Fast-Track Projects (Continued)
 A better selection of fast track projects from the list of infrastructure related ADP
projects could ensure better outcome.
 A number of ADP projects could be taken as fast track; Timely implementation
of those projects could ensure better outcome.
 There are a number of other infrastructure related projects located either at the
same location or in regions nearby to the fast track projects
• Such projects, located across the southern belt of the Bay of Bengal, will make the
region important as well as more critically sensitive.
• It is of vital importance to identify and understand all positives and challenges
associated with developing such infrastructural facilities in the southern part of
Bangladesh, with the support of a range of development partners.

Introduction
 FY2015 is the last fiscal year under the Sixth Five Year Plan (SFYP)
 Policy instruments to realise ‘Vision 2021’
 Currently, in the process of finalising 7FYP (2016-2020
 Proper benchmarking is important for setting targets and strategies
 There remains a vacuum in examining the outcomes of SFYP
implementation
 The present study seeks to analyse the benchmark condition of the 7FYP
 analyse the gaps for a range of macroeconomic indicators, and the
sectoral strategies and to what degree those have been realised
 A series of key interviews have been carried out with personnel from
selected ministries
Section V. Analysis of Implementation of the Sixth Five Year
Plan (SFYP): Examining the Benchmark Condition for FY2016

Overall Achievements of the Targets of the SFYP
 Targets under nine areas: conservative projection based on the data of FY13/14
 Considerable progress: health, education and population
 Progress in most of the indicators is rather off-track
 Indicates lack of robustness in the process of implementation in different
areas
• Poverty (though behind the target), net enrolment in
primary education, reduction in fertility rate, coverage
of electricity, proportion of elected female
representatives and number of bills passed etc.
Showed considerable progress
• Real income growth, percentage of cohort reaching
grade 5, immunization, maternal mortality ratio,
births attendant by skilled staff, water and sanitation
related indicators, electricity generation, transport
related, environment related, ICT related and
governance related indicators.
Progress found far behind the
track
The highest gap between target
and achievement
• overseas employment (14 per cent), adult literacy rate
(23.2 per cent), cohort reaching grade 5 (24.7 per cent),
maternal mortality (27 per cent), access to sanitary latrines
(40 per cent and 24 per cent), electricity generation (7776
MW), per capita electricity consumption (1155 kwh) and
number of cyclone shelters (1582)

GDP Growth
 Targets failed to be
achieved throughout
the Plan period.
 Gaps have widened
 Not so distinctive
compared to that in
the immediate past
no medium-term
plan period.
Plan Period Annual average GDP
growth rate (%)
Gap
between
target and
actual
growth
rates
Target Actual
First five year plan (FY73-FY78) 5.5 4.0 1.5
Two year plan (FY78-FY80) 5.6 3.5 2.1
Second five year plan (FY80-FY85) 5.4 3.8 1.6
Third five year plan (FY85-FY90) 5.4 3.8 1.6
Fourth five year plan (FY90-FY95) 5.0 4.2 0.8
Fifth five year plan (FY97-FY02) 7.0 5.1 1.9
FY02-FY06 5.5
FY06-FY10 6.3
Sixth five year plan (FY11-FY14) 7.3 6.3 1.7
GDP Growth Performance in the Five Year Plans
 Popular perception of Bangladesh as one of the ‘fastest growing economy’ is
not valid - ranked 43rd out of top growing 45 economies
 Reached the minimum threshold level: lower middle income country

Performance of Major Macro Indicators
 Low level of GDP growth was largely due to slow
growth of a number of key macro indicators, such
as private investment and export.
 Slowdown in private investment against huge
public investment raises questions about crowd-in
effect
 ICOR in the non-Plan years preceding SFYP
(FY2006-10) was lower than that of the Plan
period (FY2011-13)
 Lack of infrastructure, high cost of bank
borrowing, lack of reform in public institutions
and corporate governance are the reasons for poor
private investment
CAGR
FY2011-14
(target)
CAGR
FY2011-14
(actual)
Public
investment
24.7 30.9
Private
investment
19.9 17.9
Export 20.2 16.4
Import 21.2 14.6
Performance of Major Macro Indicators
3.2
3.4
3.6
3.8
4.0
4.2
4.4
4.6
FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13
P
%
Trend in ICOR: Plan vs. Non-Plan Periods

Public Finance
 On numerous occasions the MTBF has been revised; revisions indicates an
overall downward adjustment of macroeconomic framework
Resource Mobilisation
 Gap between target and achieved revenue-GDP ratio has increased over time
 Successfully implement strategy of gradual reduction from import stage
 Broad-based reduction of SD is likely to have mixed impact on local industries
 Progress of reform in tax administration is rather slow.
Public Expenditure
 Public expenditure was in general below target.
 Priorities in non-development expenditure for top 5 sectors remained same
 Interest payments exceeded target mainly due to high domestic borrowing
 Rise in expenditure for subsidy payments was a key concern
 Composition of development expenditure has changed during the Plan period.
 Low allocation levels for social infrastructure sectors remain a concern
 Limited project management success: cost, time and quality
 Financing budget deficit: foreign finance management has been in line with the
target, domestic financing has slightly exceeded its target

Monetary Management
 Growth of overall broad money has met its target; growth in all other indicators
concerning monetary management was below target.
 Weak governance in the financial sector has emerged as a major concern (CPD,
2014).
 Scams in the banking sector; capital market debacle, high NPL, problems in
management and operation of NCBs – are major concerns
• Despite various institutional and operational reforms, poor performance of the
banking sector raised questions about the efficacy of IMF-inspired reforms.
Rate of classified loans (%)
Institutions June 2011 (FY2010-11) March 2015
NCBs 14.1 22.5
PCBs 3.5 6.0
FBs (9) 3.1 8.2
DFIs (5) 21.8 33.5
TOTAL 7.1 10.5

Sector (SFYP
classification)
Total period
(target) Tk.cr.
Total period Tk.cr.
(actual/budgeted)
Total
Period
Share (%)
Total
Period
Share
(%)
Agriculture, rural
development and
water resources
27,095 8.7 54,433 21.4
Manufacturing 4,650 1.5 7,561 3.0
Energy 53,588 17.3 48,110 18.9
Transport 48,783 15.7 50,736 19.9
Physical planning 58,839 19 25,582 10.1
Knowledge economy 3,060 1 5337 2.1
Education 45,641 14.7 34,922 13.7
Health, Population,
and Nutrition
28,560 9.2 18,602 7.3
Poor and Vulnerable 3,006 1 3,191 1.3
Environment and
Disaster Management
12,324 4 0 0.0
Public Administration
and Others
24,363 7.9 5,998 2.4
Total 309,907 100 254,473 100.0
 Allocation by priority was not
maintained as per the SFYP.
 Because of the changing
priorities, a number of social
sectors such as health,
population and nutrition and
public administration have
received lesser allocations.
 Sectoral strategies are not
necessarily followed all the
time
 Changes in policies, rules
and regulations
 Focus is more on
horizontal expansion
SFYP Public Investment Allocation by Sector

 Lessons from the Implementation Process of the SFYP
Political commitment
 Well acknowledged. Public sector was not always found to be well equipped in
implementing the strategies
 Lack of strong linkage between vision framework, resource framework and
allocative priorities: Deviation from MTBF
Planning process
 Global and local issues impacted the implementation process
 Overall target setting of the macroeconomic framework appeared fixed at the
upper bound level.
Operational issues
 More emphasis on allocative (or generating) priorities
 Line ministry capacity in regards to implementation needs to be reexamined.
 Reforms to a large extent did not get priority in the SFYP
 Effective connection between the public and private sectors remain weak
67CPD (2015): State of the Bangladesh Economy in FY2015

 Target set for major macroeconomic indicators for FY16 under the 7th
FYP
 The targets set on major macro indicators for the first year of the 7FYP is less
ambitious and moderate.
 Given the experience of the SFYP, setting moderate targets is justifiable.
 It is expected that the implementation of the 7FYP will be focused and targeted
taking the experience of the SFYP
 Linkage between vision, resource framework and allocative priorities
 Need flexibility in implementation process to accommodate shocks/crisis.
 Equal priority should be given on allocational and operational efficiency
 Capacity of line ministries and local level administration need to be improved
 Linkage between public and private investment need to be strengthened
 Necessary reforms need to be initiated

Thank You

CPD IRBD FY15 State of Bangladesh Economy June 2015

More Related Content

What's hot

Viewers also liked

Similar to CPD IRBD FY15 State of Bangladesh Economy June 2015

More from Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)

Recently uploaded

CPD IRBD FY15 State of Bangladesh Economy June 2015