Dhaka, July 15 -- The finance advisor of the interim government, Dr Saleuddin Ahmad, presented the national budget for fiscal year 2025-26 (FY26) when the country is going through a crucial moment after the fall of the Hasina's autocratic regime. Given the fact that a lot of institutional reforms are under way and that Saleuddin is an economist and the ex-governor of Bangladesh Bank, it is astonishing that the budget does not indicate a visionary reform. It is rather a disappointing continuity of the past rather than a bold leap into the future. The budget, approved by the advisory council on June 22, neither reflects any coherent economic theory nor offers a transformative development strategy.

For example, Harvard Professor, Joseph Sch...