Govt to deploy project dashboards with direct penalties for bureaucratic delays: Khosru
Projects to be approved based on four criteria, he says
The government is set to install digital tracking dashboards across all ministries, including the Prime Minister's Office, to monitor the daily progress of public development schemes and enforce immediate punitive measures against officials responsible for project stagnation, Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury announced yesterday.
Speaking as the chief guest at a seminar titled "Budget 2026-27: Expectations and Reality", organised by the Economic Reporters Forum (ERF), the minister said the initiative was designed to accelerate budget implementation and improve project execution across government agencies.
"Allocation is not the issue. Our concern is how quickly we can implement it. After extensive consideration and reflection on why budgets are not implemented and where the bottlenecks arise, we have developed this approach," the minister said.
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New criteria for project approval
Khosru said the government has adopted four criteria for approving projects: value for money, return on investment, job creation, and environmental impact.
Projects that fail to meet these benchmarks will not be approved, he said.
The minister added that around 1,300 projects inherited from previous administrations are also being reviewed against these criteria. Projects that fail to qualify will be cancelled, while those for which substantial public funds have already been spent will be redesigned by changing their objectives.
Banking sector and capital market reforms
The finance minister said restoring public confidence in the banking and financial sectors remains a key priority.
He noted that many banks are under-capitalised and that the private sector has also been weakened by factors including currency depreciation.
According to the minister, discussions had been held with several international institutions, including the International Finance Corporation, regarding the recapitalisation of banks and businesses. He said financial institutions, including JPMorgan, had expressed interest in supporting such efforts.
Khosru said confidence in the banking sector will improve once depositors are assured that they could withdraw their money whenever required.
He also reiterated that the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission will be reconstituted within the next two weeks through the appointment of a chairman and commissioners selected on the basis of professional expertise rather than political affiliation.
Economic challenges
The minister described the preparation of the national budget as particularly challenging amid rising poverty, job losses, declining investment and lower imports of capital machinery.
He said the government is attempting to repair what he described as a fragile economy inherited from the previous two administrations.
Defending the size of the proposed budget, he argued that additional spending is necessary to revitalise economic activity, comparing the strategy to priming a tube well before water can be drawn.
The government is going to allocate Tk14,000 crore under the Family Card programme in the coming fiscal year to support vulnerable households and promote women's empowerment, he said.
The minister also highlighted the role of farmers in ensuring food security, noting that the government has begun Farmers' Card distribution to support the agricultural sector.
Health care and creative economy
Khosru said Bangladeshis spend more out of pocket on health care than citizens of low-income nations like Afghanistan, underscoring the need for stronger primary health care services.
To improve access for lower-income groups, the government plans to implement a major primary health care initiative through private sector organisations and non-governmental organisations, he said.
The minister also announced budgetary support for the creative economy, saying the government would work with private sector entities and NGOs to develop skills, improve product quality and help businesses access international online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay.
Investment climate and deregulation
The government intends to simplify regulatory procedures and reduce obstacles faced by businesses, the minister said.
He proposed a system under which all licences and approvals would be issued through a single point of contact within a specified timeframe. If a government office fails to respond within the stipulated period, approval will be deemed to have been granted automatically.
"No compromise. Even if 18 or 20 separate approvals are required, they must be provided through a single point and within a fixed timeframe," he said.
The minister added that regulations considered to be creating unnecessary barriers to business activity will be reviewed and removed.
Economists and business leaders voice concerns
Speaking as a special guest, Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, questioned the government's revenue targets, noting that revenue collection goals had not been achieved for the past decade.
She said this indicated structural weaknesses in the revenue system and warned that the revenue target for the next fiscal year could also prove difficult to achieve without significant reforms.
Fahmida also expressed concern over the steady increase in recurrent expenditure, arguing that development spending should be at least equal to, if not higher than, operating expenditure.
She called for stronger governance in social protection programmes and urged policymakers to prioritise improvements in the quality of education and health services rather than focusing primarily on new infrastructure.
The economist also highlighted an apparent policy contradiction between an expansionary fiscal budget and a contractionary monetary policy, arguing that inflation could be better controlled by increasing supply through greater investment in agriculture, food production, logistics and transport.
She said achieving the government's projected economic growth rate of 6.5% in the next fiscal year will require improvements in governance, investment conditions and law and order.
Azam J Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Oceangoing Ship Owners' Association, called for reforms to the Workers' Welfare Fund, arguing that workers do not receive the intended benefits and that the absence of a clear definition of "worker" allows officers to capture most of the fund's benefits.
He also urged the government to extend to local companies the same reduced contribution rate available to foreign offshore firms.
Shawkat Aziz Russell, president of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, claimed that around 300 factories had closed due to what he described as policy mistakes by the interim government. He proposed the creation of a low-interest financing facility, similar to those available in India, to support machinery imports.
The seminar was chaired by ERF President Daulat Akhtar Mala and moderated by the organisation's General Secretary Abul Kashem.
