Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed on Saturday said that the interim government was taking steps to prevent future money laundering.

‘We are implementing measures so that, regardless of the nature of future governments—whether public or private—money laundering will no longer be possible,’ he said.

‘Through these reforms, we aim to leave a lasting legacy for subsequent governments to follow,’ he added.

The adviser came up with the remarks while addressing a policy dialogue on ‘Financial and Economic Reforms in Bangladesh 2024’ organised by Brac Business School of Brac University at its campus in the capital’s Merul Badda.

He also said officials would be sent abroad to recover laundered money, and discussions were ongoing with countries like the United States over the issue.

But retrieving these funds will take time, he said.

Salehuddin said that Bangladesh was not in any financial crisis, but it was facing political and economic challenges.

He said that most of the institutions, especially state-owned companies, were on the brink of collapse due to a lack of governance and accountability.

‘We are trying to bring about good governance, which is a big challenge, but we are not too disappointed with the situation as the country is very efficient and creative,’ he said.

The adviser further said the interim government was introducing changes to its development strategy, focusing on inclusive progress rather than just growth.

He said that mistakes were made in past development strategies, as the focus remained on growth without ensuring that benefits trickled down to all levels.

‘Only a small group reaped most of the benefits,’ he said.

The adviser said that the government was working to bring down inflation and ensure market stability by taking different measures, like waving import duties.

‘But there are so many factors — from production to supply chain, as traders face extortion, and there are also middlemen, which push up the prices,’ he said, adding that a political solution is needed to stop it.

Criticising the ousted Awami League regime’s GDP calculations through wrong data and misinformation, Salehuddin said that there was no accountability on the part of the relevant institutions.

He observed that ‘there were many projects for which no feasibility study was conducted. Now it is found that the Indian Adani Group did not pay their taxes in implementing its project.’

Salehuddin also announced upcoming reforms within the National Board of Revenue, which would separate the tax policy from the tax administration.

Mentioning that the deep damage that has been done to the country’s economy cannot be visualised from the outside, he also said that no other country in the world has so much chaos in its economic sector.

The finance adviser mentioned economic instability could lead to reduced assistance from foreign partners.

Addressing the event, Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, criticised the narrative of the development.

He said, ‘If we cannot dissect the narrative of the development, it is not possible to move forward.’

‘The data on growth was politicised, and false information was given regarding the growth. As a result, it was seen that the country’s gross domestic product was increasing, though private sector investment was not increasing,’ he said.

Commenting on the disparity between different sectors in the past, he said, ‘Some people say, are we going to fall into the middle income trap? I think we are already in the middle income trap.’

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner Farzana Lalarukh said, ‘We are facing challenges of returning confidence of investors at the share market as the previous government destroyed trust of people.’

She also said that there was a lack of financial literacy among the investors on the share market.