BOOK REVIEW : Report of the Task Forces on Bangladesh Development Strategies for the 1990s

This extended review synthesizes the key arguments and recommendations advanced by the Task Forces on Bangladesh Development Strategies for the 1990s. It highlights the report’s diagnosis of structural bottlenecks—low revenue mobilization, weak public investment management, energy and transport constraints, and lagging human development—and its proposed policy mix of fiscal reform, trade liberalization, agricultural productivity gains, export diversification and targeted social spending. The review underscores governance themes: procurement integrity, decentralization to improve service delivery, and civil-service incentives aligned with measurable results. It also assesses sequencing questions and the political economy of reform, noting where transition costs and entrenched interests may slow progress. The piece concludes that the report offers a coherent, pragmatic roadmap whose success will depend on credible implementation and sustained coalition-building.

The body engages the report chapter by chapter. On macro policy, it appraises revenue measures—broadening the tax base, improving VAT administration—and expenditure reprioritization toward infrastructure and primary health and education. In agriculture, it discusses input market reforms, rural finance, irrigation and extension services that raise yields and resilience. For industry and trade, it evaluates tariff rationalization, export processing arrangements and support for small and medium enterprises to move up value chains. Infrastructure analysis covers power generation planning, grid reliability, ports and roads, and the governance reforms required to translate capex into service quality. A social policy section examines targeted safety nets and gender-inclusive programs. Throughout, the review stresses monitoring frameworks and data transparency. It closes by reflecting on political feasibility: building reform constituencies, sequencing to deliver early wins, and insulating core programs from electoral cycles so that growth, equity and governance improvements reinforce one another.