According to the White Paper report on the economy of Bangladesh, political extortion, bribery, and inflated budgets have cost the country $14–24 billion (1.61-2.80 lakh crore BDT) of the $60 billion invested in ADP and development programs during the previous 15 years.
The paper was formally presented to the media today at the NEC conference room in the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar neighbourhood of the city by Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya, the head of the White Paper Committee and Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
There were other committee members in attendance.
According to the research, corruption in major public projects has resulted in delays of more than five years and an average cost increase of 70%.
The paper said the misappropriation of funds during land acquisitions and the appointment of patronised project directors have further strained resources, undermining potential benefits from infrastructure and social investments.
It said that systemic tax evasion, misuse of exemptions, and poorly managed public finances have deprived the state of critical resources, stalling development.
Between 2009 and 2023, illicit financial outflows averaged USD 16 billion annually-more than double the combined value of net foreign aid and FDI inflows.
The substantial financial opportunities lost to corruption are further highlighted by the fact that halving tax exemptions could triple health allocations and double education funding.
According to the report, markets have become unstable as a result of inflated domestic production estimates and understated demand for important commodities like wheat, rice, and edible oil.
Procurement practices that are haphazard and politically swayed have exacerbated consumer problems while benefiting influential business organisations.
The absence of robust regular stock monitoring has only compounded these distortions. In the banking and financial systems, the politically influenced lending practices have deepened the banking sector crisis, with distressed assets (as of June 2024) equivalent to the cost of constructing 14 Dhaka Metro systems or 24 Padma Bridges.
Persistent loan defaults and high- profile scams have eroded financial stability and diverted capital away from productive sectors. Over the last decade, BDT 13.4 lakh crore (BDT 1.34 trillion) has been funnelled through hundi transactions by recruiting agencies for visa purchases-an amount four times the cost of constructing Dhaka MRT 06 (Uttara-Motijheel).
Syndicates and exploitative recruitment practices have deprived migrant workers of equitable access to employment and diminished remittance contributions to the economy.
In the social safety nets, misallocations within social protection programs have left millions of people vulnerable. As of 2022, 73 per cent of social safety net beneficiaries were classified as non-poor, a significant increase from 66 per cent in 2016.
More than 20 million people are still only two days’ worth of missed work away from becoming impoverished, underscoring the structural injustices made worse by corruption.
Corruption in climate adaptation financing has made environmental degradation worse in the field of environmental mismanagement.
Sustainability programs have been undermined by politically supported mismanagement of climatic resources, endangering long-term resilience against hazards brought on by climate change.
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