Economics and Finance

In recent years the process of privatisation of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), spanning over more than two decades, has come under increasing scrutiny of both experts and civil society in Bangladesh. Conceptual framework of privatisation of SOEs, efficacy of institutions to carry out privatisation related reforms and operationalisation of the privatisation policies have come to be questioned by both experts, and the general public.

Across South Asia economic policy reforms were to accelerate growth by enhancing the countries internal and external competitiveness. To what extent did the sluggish trade performance of South Asian countries actually improve? To what extent have opportunities for regional trade and investment cooperation materialized in the more liberal post-reform context? Did inflows of foreign direct investment actually increase?

This important book deals with two issues: the emancipation of the Third World from the debt system and the re-appropriation of development by civil society through financial self-reliance. The author begins by analyzing the failure of 50 years of externally financed development. He shows how the foreign aid system- has had the perverse effect of downplaying the role of domestic savings and creating a chronic economic and technological dependency. It also subverted the political process in many countries by giving birth to a new class which Gelinas calls the aristocracy.

Annual budgets in developing countries in general are historically regarded as the intellectual output of the ivory tower economists and policy planners of these countries. It has been no different in Bangladesh where the budget-making process has largely remained a non-participatory exercise in terms of interacting with the representatives of the poorer sections of the society. The present work critically examines the annual budgets in Bangladesh with particular focus on the social sector and attempts to capture the perceptions of the poor people.