Many of my high school teachers in Nalitabari, Sherpur used to say that good students never burn the midnight oil on the eve of an exam. Serious students distribute their efforts evenly and consistently throughout the term, so they feel confident about their results without needing last-minute cramming. However, the interim government, despite being teamed with a group of well-known experts and economists, seems to be behaving like a group of poor students frantically trying to study the whole book overnight just before the test (read: election). That rarely produces good results, nor is it practicable.
The government, crowned with no less than a Nobel laureate, raised massive hopes among the public following the student-led uprising in August 2024. Most expectations regarding reforms, justice, and economic upliftment have since nosedived, while social peace and sense of security have eroded sharply. Not only did the government fail on most economic fronts, but it also escalated risks and fear among depositors, investors, and low-income groups, thus throwing banks, capital markets, and investments in the doldrums.
While the interim failed to create new jobs for the youth who fought for change, the rate of job losses due to the closures of many factories over the past 18 months has been particularly precipitous. Still, people chose to downgrade their expectations and wait for the election before things could hopefully improve. But the interim’s sudden rush to ink new deals just before its transfer of power has not only created valid concerns for the next elected government but also raised questions about how a non-elected government can so hurriedly seal or pursue multiple strategic deals with foreign counterparts.
Foremost among these is a prospective deal with UAE-based DP World to manage cargo operations at the New Mooring Container Terminal in Chattogram Port, an endeavour that has ignited protests including an indefinite strike by port employees scheduled to start today. Earlier, in November 2025, the authorities decided to grant Denmark’s APM Terminals a 33-year concession to build and operate the $550 million Laldia Container Terminal. Additionally, Switzerland’s Medlog SA has been allowed to run Pangaon River Port under a 22-year contract.
These deals engage the long-term interests of the nation, and thus deserve to be scrutinised and debated in parliament before approval. The interim, which took an oath to usher in civilised avenues of democracy, is clearly downplaying the role of democratic discussion and civic engagement. Its last-minute moves seem not only impulsive, but also largely designed to misrepresent the economic future of the nation. Thus, the interim is making the incoming government’s journey treacherous, toying with the nation’s sensitive, long-term interests without demonstrating adequate legitimacy and transparency.
There are other examples. Take Bangladesh Biman. Like many other public enterprises, it is also deeply troubled by inefficiency and corruption. One may recall that there was a clamour of disapproval from domestic passengers and concerned groups when Biman was given the task to manage luggage handling at the third terminal, reflecting how people largely withdrew trust from this carrier. But the interim has now reportedly fast-tracked a highly expensive procurement of 14 Boeing aircraft for Biman without any research, needs assessment, feasibility study, cost-benefit analysis, or stakeholder discussion. By doing so, it is effectively prioritising a foreign company’s interests while depleting national coffers.
The interim government has entered another sensitive arena by approving a defence industrial zone in Chattogram’s Mirsarai, an area previously designated for the Indian Economic Zone, which was cancelled last year. There are two anti-economic signals in this decision. First, the interim is fanning anti-India sentiment without doing justice to Bangladesh’s economic gains from manufacturing and trade. Second, it is diverting our developmental path towards a military-focused model akin to some other countries, a model where military might and economic growth could move in opposite directions.
Bangladesh has allowed countries like China, Japan, South Korea, and India to build economic zones on its soil, assessing that they are mutually beneficial. More importantly, they contribute to Bangladesh’s employment, knowledge, technology, productivity, and growth. The selection of which countries should be allowed to build economic zones entails Bangladesh’s largest trade partners, and India qualifies in that regard.
The drastic fall in Bangladesh-India relations may be a reason why India lost the zone in Bangladesh, but it could have been granted to smaller trading partners like Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, or Cambodia. The interim’s sudden leap into establishing a defence industrial zone instead is both absurd and contradictory to what Bangladesh needs now: employment generation and recovery from economic downturn.
The interim is thus not only attempting to alter Bangladesh’s character but is also behaving anti-economically. While people jocularly say that six economists will generate seven opinions, there is consensus among economists that increasing military spending is discouraged for countries aspiring to rapid poverty alleviation, respectable growth, and faster development. As Noam Chomsky asserts, “If you’re worried about the deficit, pay attention to the fact that it’s almost all attributable to military spending and the totally dysfunctional health program.”
Finally, the interim’s handling of the public-sector pay hike issue is a poorly timed disaster. It may act as a landmine for the next elected government, which will neither be able to avoid it nor totally afford it given the revenue situation that was worsened by the interim itself. High inflation has certainly eroded public servants’ purchasing power, but the issue could have been deferred to the incoming government.
Such last-minute deals, along with high-impact administrative initiatives reported by the media recently, are poised to do more harm than good. They are socially divisive, politically inappropriate for the present, and economically perilous for the next government.
Dr Birupaksha Paul is professor of economics at the State University of New York at Cortland, U
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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