The government today formed a 12-member committee led by Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), to prepare a white paper on the state of Bangladesh's economy.

The panel will hold its first meeting at the Planning Commission in Dhaka tomorrow.

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Debapriya may propose 10-member panel to prepare white paper

The committee members include Professor AK Enamul Haque, dean of Faculty of Business and Economics of East West University; Ferdaus Ara Begum, CEO of Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD); Imran Matin, executive director of BRAC Institute of Governance and Development at BRAC University; Dr Kazi Iqbal, senior research fellow at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS); and Dr M Tamim, professor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

The others are Dr Mohammad Abu Eusuf, professor of Dhaka University's Department of Development Studies; Professor Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow of CPD; Dr Selim Raihan, professor of Department of Economics, University of Dhaka; Dr Sharmind Neelormi, professor of Department of Economics of Jahangirnagar University; Dr Tasneem Arefa Siddiqui, founding chair of Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU); and Dr Zahid Hussain, former lead economist of the World Bank.

The interim government last week announced its decision to prepare the white paper so that strategic steps can be taken to stabilise the economy, reach the Sustainable Development Goals, and mitigate the challenges after Bangladesh graduates from the LDC grouping.

Debapriya, who is also the convener of the Citizen's Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh, said after a meeting with Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed at the Secretariat on August 25 that the panel would consider incorporating issues beyond its mandate, depending on the situation.