Bangladesh’s fiscal transparency has shown progress under the Interim Government, though significant gaps remain, according to the US State Department’s Fiscal Transparency Report 2025 released on Friday.
The report noted that the Interim Government, which replaced the previous administration during the review period, generally adhered to existing budget recommendations and initiated reforms aimed at improving financial openness. It suspended all direct negotiations on natural resource extraction and moved procurement in this sector to a fully open and transparent process.
The previous government had made its executive budget proposal and enacted budget publicly available, including online, but failed to release an end-of-year report within a reasonable timeframe. While budget documents were considered generally reliable, they did not fully meet internationally accepted standards, and spending on executive offices was not broken down.
Information on debt obligations and state-owned enterprise allocations was made public, offering a reasonably complete picture of planned expenditures and revenues. However, the report said the budget still lacked a substantially comprehensive account of overall revenues and expenditures.
The US State Department highlighted that the country’s supreme audit institution released only summary findings after the change in government, without conducting a full review of state accounts. It also said the institution does not meet international standards of independence.
To strengthen transparency, the report recommended that Bangladesh publish its end-of-year budget report in a timely manner, adopt internationally accepted budgetary principles, and ensure detailed breakdowns of expenditures and revenues. It also called for making audit reports with substantive findings public, granting the audit authority full independence, and publishing information on public procurement contracts as well as natural resource extraction awards.
The State Department said implementing these measures would help Bangladesh ensure greater accountability in public financial management and align its practices with global standards.
