Publication:
An interview report was published in Dhaka Tribune on 3rd April, 2017. The interview dealt with various aspects of economic relationships between India and Bangladesh. The aspects included trade, investment, transport connectivity, water resources, energy and Indian lines of credit to Bangladesh.
An interview report was published on Thursday 06 April 2017 in the Bengali daily Prothom Alo. The interview focused on , inter alia, the reasonable size of the upcoming FY 18 budget, revenue target, desirability and feasibility of uniform 15% value added tax, corporate tax rate, annual development program and choice of priority sectors for allocation of expenditure and constraints to private sector investment.
Other Activities:
01 April: Dr. Mirza Azizul Islam participated in a discussion broadcast by TV channel DBC. The other participant was Dr. Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow and former Executive Director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD). The discussions centered on the upcoming budget for FY18—potentially implementable size, challenges to enhancement of revenue collection and the needs for higher allocation to some priority sectors such as transport, energy, health, education and social safety net.
05 April: Dr. Mirza Azizul Islam was the only discussant in a program broadcast by TV channel 24. The discussion dealt with various issues connected with the upcoming FY 18 budget. Among the issues considered were implementation capacity on revenue collection as well as expenditure side, sectorial allocation, poverty and social safety net.
09 April: Dr. Mirza Azizul Islam along with Mr. Kazi Akram, former President of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries, participated in a discussion program broadcast by TV channel News 24. The topic of discussion was the Hsonorable Prime Minister’s visit to India. Six agreements and sixteen memoranda of understanding signed during the visit were reviewed. It is disappointing to observe that none of these dealt with major issues in Indo-Bangladesh economic relations such as trade gap, water sharing, foreign direct investment from India and labor movement.
13 April: Dr. Mirza Azizul Islam was the only discussant in a TV program broadcast by Ekushey TV. The discussion dealt with the prevailing situation in the capital market and likely developments in the near future.
16 April: Dr. Mirza Azizul Islam along with Mr. Ahmedul Kabir, Former Chairman of Rupali Bank participated in a discussion broadcast by TV channel NTV. Among the issues examined were the reasonable size of the upcoming budget, priority areas for enhanced expenditure and actions needed for remedying the usual under-performance.
24 April: Dr. Mirza Azizul Islam participated in an Expert Group discussion convened by the Centre for Policy Dialogue to finalize the outline of a Bangladesh country report on implementation of Sustainable Development Goals for global citizens’ platform.
26 April: Dr. Mirza Azizul Islam was the Chief Guest at a book launching ceremony. The title of the book is Youth Entrepreneurship. It is authored by Mr. Syed Rabius Shams. The book contains a collection of previously published articles dealing with challenges facing young entrepreneurs in Bangladesh and case studies of how some of them have overcome the challenges.
27 April: Dr. Mirza Azizul Islam was the Chief Guest at a seminar on Monetary Policy convened by the Faculty of Business Studies of Dhaka University. The discussions centered around the transmission mechanisms of the effect of monetary policy on various objectives such as accelerating economic growth and containing inflation. The structural limitations of the effectiveness of monetary policy in Bangladesh are also reviewed.
29 April: Dr. Mirza Azizul Islam was the Chief Guest at a seminar organized by Economic Reporters’ Forum and the Association of Chartered Financial Analysts. The subject matter was the basis for determination of prices of stocks in the capital market. In this context the role of capital market in raising finance for investment in the real sectors was also discussed.