{"id":299769,"date":"2026-02-19T20:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T20:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/299769\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T20:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T20:23:09","slug":"debapriya-calls-for-audit-of-previous-govts-liabilities-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/299769\/","title":{"rendered":"Debapriya calls for audit of previous govt’s liabilities, contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"

He says reviewing the outgoing government’s economic decisions is essential to properly understand the macroeconomic situation and formulate sound policies <\/p>\n

\n TBS Report\n <\/p>\n

\n 19 February, 2026, 07:00 pm <\/p>\n

\n Last modified: 19 February, 2026, 07:25 pm <\/p>\n

\n Economist Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya. File photo: UNB \n<\/p>\n

“> <\/p>\n

\"Economist<\/p>\n

\n Economist Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya. File photo: UNB \n <\/p>\n

Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), has called on the new government to form a strong transition team to conduct a forensic review of the financial liabilities, procurement contracts, and foreign agreements left behind by the previous administration.<\/p>\n

According to him, reviewing the outgoing government’s economic decisions is essential to properly understand the macroeconomic situation and formulate sound policies.<\/p>\n

He made these remarks on Thursday at a media briefing titled “Economic Review at the Starting Point of the New Government”, organised by the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh, at BRAC Inn Centre in the capital.<\/p>\n


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Bhattacharya noted that in developed countries, it is common practice to form transition teams during a change in government. Such a team would conduct a transparent and systematic assessment of financial liabilities, public procurement contracts, decisions on mega projects, and various foreign agreements undertaken by the previous administration.<\/p>\n

He clarified that this would not be an act of political retaliation, but rather an institutional “forensic review” \u2013 akin to a post-mortem examination \u2013 aimed at ensuring objective evaluation.<\/p>\n

He also suggested preparing briefing documents for each ministry, clearly outlining the current situation, risks, liabilities, and future course of action.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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In particular, he stressed the importance of presenting an accurate picture of domestic and foreign debt, interest payment pressures, and the long-term implications of foreign agreements to the new government.<\/p>\n

Based on such assessments, he proposed publishing a White Paper or “Blue Book” to help guide policy direction and ensure transparency to the public.<\/p>\n

Administrative and economic challenges ahead\n<\/p>\n

Referring to the challenges facing the new administration, Dr Bhattacharya said uncertainty currently prevails in global trade, investment, and labour markets. Although the government has assumed power with a strong political mandate, a significant portion of the cabinet lacks direct experience in state governance, which presents both opportunity and risk. Of a cabinet exceeding 50 members, around 40 have no prior governing experience.<\/p>\n

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He identified restoring law and order as a major challenge. Unless mob culture, extortion, bribery, and harassment are curbed, the rule of law cannot be established. He emphasised that the rule of law is not merely a political issue but has deep economic implications \u2014 without a secure and predictable environment, investment and job creation will not increase.<\/p>\n

Inflation and macro stability must be priorities\n<\/p>\n

Calling for immediate attention to price stability, Bhattacharya urged vigilance to prevent inflation from rising again ahead of Ramadan. Despite various measures over the past one and a half years, desired outcomes have not been achieved. He stressed the need to ensure energy and food security while boosting private sector investment to generate employment.<\/p>\n

Describing macroeconomic stability as “the mother of all reforms,” he emphasised the importance of addressing inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, and the domestic and external debt situation.<\/p>\n

“If these remain weak, sustainable investment, employment generation, debt repayment, and food security cannot be ensured,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He says reviewing the outgoing government’s economic decisions is essential to properly understand the macroeconomic situation and formulate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,184,85,46],"class_list":["post-299769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}