Development planning in Bangladesh: Understanding from a generalist approach

1. Development planning
in Bangladesh
Prepared By:
Ihtishamul Alam Maruf
M.S.S (final Year)
Department of Public Administration(19th Batch)
University of Rajshahi

2. Learning Objectives
 What is Development Planning?
 Development Planning in Bangladesh
 Institutional Arrangement for Development
planning in BD
 Types of Development Planning in BD
 Difference between PRSP and five year planning
of the country.

3. Dev. Planning Defined
 “Development means making a better life for everyone.
 Planning can be defined as a continuous process , which
involves decisions or actions about alternative ways of
using available resources, with the aim of achieving
particular goals at some time in the future.
 In most countries of the third world Development
planning is a post war phenomenon. The main objective
of development planning is to overcome the situation of
under development through a planned economy.
 Although some very preliminary attempts at planning
were made in some countries before second world war,
usually under the auspices of the colonial power .
However Planning has now become an accepted fact of
the economic life in most contemporary developing
nations.

4. Cont..
 DP is an intelligent way of using political process
for using and allocating scarce resources (human
and material) so that development happens.
 Accelerated economic growth and structural
change are the implied aims of development
planning. (Waterson)
 So it can be said that.. Development Planning
(DP) is about decisions and chosen actions for
mobilizing and using available resources for
attaining desirable goals

5. Institutional Arrangement of DP in BD:
• Before the Independence:
 DP in Indian subcontinent was started in 1938 through
the establishment of a National Planning Commission
 Establishment of Planning and Development Department
in 1943
 Development Board was established in 1948 to
coordination, monitoring and recommendations of
development projects
 Ministry of Economic Affairs acted as planning
secretariat to planning bodies

6. Institutional Arrangement of DP in BD:
• After the Independents:
• After independence in 1971, when the nation crafted its first-ever
Constitution, the government arrived at a consensus that the country
will follow the path of a planned economy for realizing its
development objectives.
• Article 15 of the Constitution says, "It shall be a fundamental
responsibility of the State to attain, through planned economic
growth, a constant increase of productive forces and a steady
improvement in the material and cultural standard of living of the
people…"
• The Planning Commission was set up in 1972
• PC is the central planning agency for the long (perspective plan),
medium (5 years) and short-term (annual) plans, and adviser to the
government in matters of development
• The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning are jointly
responsible for the formulation of the ADP in consultation with
other line ministries and divisions. The NEC approves the ADP.

7. Types of DP in BD
1. Short-term Plan: Annual Plan (ADP):
 It is a reflection of the five-year plan/PRSP
 Divided into three parts: Annual development Program (ADP,
for public sector), Investment Schedule (IS, for private sector)
and Defense Plan
Figure: Components of the Annual plan of Bangladesh.
Source: Chadha , Skylark (1989) Managing Projects in Bangladesh.
Annual Plan (AP)
ADP IS Defense Plan

8. Cont…
2. Medium-term Plan: 5 Years Plan/PRSP:
 First Five Years Plan (1973-78); Two year Plan (1978-80); Second
Five Year Plan (1980-85); Third Five Year Plan (1985-90); Fourth
Five year Plan (1990-95); Fifth Five Year Plan (1997-2002); Poverty
Reduction Strategy Papers (2003-2010); and Sixth Five Year Plan
(2011-2015)
3. Long-term Perspective Plan:
 Vision 2021 (2010-2021); Two Year Plan (1978-80);
Now our discussion will cover special attention on following issues:
 Five Year Planning
 PRSP(Poverty Reduction Strategy paper.
 Perspective Plan of Bangladesh ( 2010-2021)

9. Five Year Plans in BD
Six plans so far.
1. First Five Year Plan (1973-78):
2. Second Five Year Plan (1980-85)
3. Third Five-Year Plan (1985-90)
4. Fourth Five-Year Plan (1990-95)
5. Fifth Five-Year Plan (1997-2002)
6. Sixth Five Year Plan (2011-2015)
 Point to be noted that just after completing the first five
year plan in 1978, due to reasonable cause the then
government adopted an additional plan namely two year
plan . (1978-80)
 A brief review of the above mentioned plans are given
below:

10. Cont…
First Five Year Plan (1973-78):
Objectives:
Poverty reduction; reconstruction, increase growth rate; reduce population
growth; tackling unemployment problem, transforming the economy into
socialistic form, market price stability. Targeted growth rate of GDP was
5.5%
Performance:
The performance was totally disappointing in terms of target achievement.
Two year Plan (1978-80)
Objectives:
5.6% GDP; attaining self-reliance in food production; reducing population
growth; increasing population growth etc. main objective was completing
maximum number of project before embarking on a new five year plan.
Achievement:
Was better than average.

11. Cont…
Second Five Year Plan (1980-85)
Objectives:
Ensuring adequate supplies of basic needs such as food, shelter and
clothing; reduce population growth; eliminate illiteracy, promoting people’s
participation, equal distribution of wealth etc. Targeted growth rate was 5.0
%
Achievement:
The plan encountered shortfalls in both domestic and external resources.
Third Five-Year Plan (1985-90)
Objectives:
Decrease population growth rate; increase employment opportunity;
develop the bases of technology for infrastructure, meet the basic human
needs of the people, To accelerate self dependency etc. Targeted growth
rate was 5.4%.
Achievement:
Not up to the standard. Intense poverty , unemployment rate was high.

12. Cont…
Fourth Five-Year Plan (1990-95)
Objectives:
Achieving GDP over 5%; poverty alleviation and employment
generation through human resource development, increase self-
reliance, poverty alleviation etc.
Achievement:
Transport & communication, and housing, sectors enjoyed a
modest growth rate. But contribution from agricultural sector,
achievement of poverty alleviation target was quite
unsatisfactory.

13. Cont…
Fifth Five-Year Plan (1997-2002)
Objectives:
To alleviate poverty; achieve self-sufficiency in food; develop the
infrastructure; increase people’s participation in local institutions
etc. Proposed to attain a GDP growth rate of 7.0%
Performance: Average performance.
Sixth Five Year Plan (2011-2015)
Objectives:
Eradicate poverty by accelerating economic growth; achieve
sustained growth with equity and social justice; reduce income
inequality etc.
Progress:
Still in progress

14. Cont…
Five year plans at a glance:
Ffffffdfdfdff
Source: Islam, Shamsul (2013) Dev. Planning: The experience of
Bangladesh.

15. Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP)
 Since 1971, the FYPs and its implementation strategies
was the base of country’s economic development.
 In September 1999, the World Bank Group and the
IMF decided that nationally-owned PRSP should be the
basis for all Bank and fund concessional lending eligibility
for debt relieves to low income countries.
 PRSP should be adopted by the concerned countries within
the framework of “Comprehensive Development
Framework (CDF)” of the bank
 This had led to the development of Poverty Reduction
Strategy Papers (PRSPs) by country authorities for
submission to the World Bank and IMF Boards.
 PRSP is not a trivial bureaucratic hoop through which
countries have to jump , rather they comprise major effort.

16. Cont…
 Principles of PRSP:
1. Country-driven and owned, based on broad-based
participatory processes for formulation,
implementation and outcome-based monitoring
2. Result-oriented, focusing on outcomes that would
benefit the poor
3. Comprehensive in scope, recognizing the
multidisciplinary nature of the causes of poverty
and measures to attack it
4. Partnership-oriented, coordinated participation of
development partners
5. Based on a medium and long term perspective for
poverty reduction

17. Cont…
 Contents of PRSP:
1. Macro and structural policies to support
sustainable growth
2. How to improve governance, including public
sector financial management
3. Appropriate sectorial policies and programmes
4. Realistic costing and appropriate levels of
funding for the major programmes

18. Cont…
 Process of PRSP:

19. Cont…
 PRSP Performance in Bangladesh:
1. The PRSP was not to mobilize real and pro poor
development; it was just to ensure the flow of loan or
financial support from the donors
2. Increased number of poor people
3. The flow of money reduced and capital market shrunk
which causing decline of domestic production &
employment.
4. PRSP failed to achieve desired growth rate.
5. The Government became the leading debtor
6. Trade liberalization impeded the growth of local
industries
7. High rate of inflation
8. Contribution of agriculture sector to GDP declined.

20. The Perspective Plan of
Bangladesh (2010-2021)
 The Perspective Plan was formulated in
consultation with people from different walks of
life, civil society members, administrators,
professionals and policy makers, public and
private enterprises, NGOs, and other interest
groups
 The Perspective Plan is a strategic document,
which will be implemented through two Five
Year Plans. The Sixth Five Year Plan (2011-
2015) is already being implemented and the
Seventh Five Year Plan (2016-2020) will
come into effect from 2016

21. Cont…
Broader Goals of perspective plan are given below:
1. Achieving middle-income country status by 2021
2. Eradicating illiteracy after 2014
3. Eradicating poverty by bringing down the number of
people living below the poverty line to 13.5 per cent of the
population estimated at no more than 25 million.
4. Ensuring a minimum intake of 2,122k. cal/person/day
of food for all.
5. Achieving self-sufficiency in rice by 2012
6. Changing the sectorial composition of output with the
shares of agriculture, industry, and services
approximating 15 per cent, 38 per cent, and 47 per cent
respectively by 2021

22. Cont…
7. Reducing maternal mortality to 1.5 per cent, raising
the use of birth control methods to 80 per cent, and
bringing down infant mortality to 15 per thousand live
births by 2021
8. Eradicating all contagious diseases and increasing life
expectancy to 70 years by 2021
9. Generating 8,500 MW of electricity by 2013, 11,500
MW by 2015, and making provisions to meet the
expected demand for power of 20,000 MW by 2021, so
that it ensures per capita energy consumption rise to
600 kwh.
10. Promoting and deepening the application of
information technology towards a digital Bangladesh

23. Difference between five year planning & PRSP

24. Thank You!