Bangladesh has made successful progress in economic growth and in the fight against poverty over the last decade, showing that it has an economy that is resilient to both external and internal uncertainties. Going forward, it is expected to maintain moderate inflation, narrowed budget deficit, escalated foreign exchange reserves, and sustainable current account deficits.

The country’s improvements and achievements include a diversification of the economy from the agriculture sector, achieved due to a rapid expansion of the Ready-Made Garment sector. Its social indicators have also significantly improved. Nevertheless, infrastructure gaps and inadequate energy supply, combined with the high cost of doing business, stagnant private investment, unemployment, and a significant gap between targeted and collected Government revenues remain, and pose significant challenges in the country's growth potential.

According to the main development policies of Bangladesh (Outline Perspective Plan of Bangladesh 2010-2021: Making Vision 2021 a Reality, and the 7th Five Year Plan FY2016 - FY2020), specific elements of public financial management (PFM), such as strengthened domestic accountability and enhanced domestic resources mobilization, are critical to improving Bangladesh’s growth. A series of public financial reform programs were undertaken from the 1990s onwards but have not fulfilled expectations. Concurrently, the country´s population is growing and the high number of transactions intensify the complexity of developing fruitful reforms.

The PFM Reform Strategy (PFMRS) 2016-2021 was adopted in August 2016 and, unlike previous plans, is a new and quite extensive Strategy that follows a holistic approach. It aims to strengthen the basics required for achieving the overarching national goals stipulated in Vision 2021 and subsequent Five-Year Plans.

DT Global provides technical assistance to strengthen the capacity of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG), and the National Parliament to implement strategic reform priorities in the areas of Domestic Revenue Mobilization (DRM) and domestic accountability, as identified within the PFMRS. Some of the main activities include:

• To support the National Board of Revenue in the areas of Integrity, Revenue Risk Management and Organization, and Planning, aiming to increase tax collection.
• To support the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General in Audit Planning, Methodology, Professional Development, and Capacity Building to carry out its modernization program.
• To support the three Parliamentary Financial Oversight Committees in a wide range of areas, such as: Legislative Framework, Professional Development and Capacity Building, Information Technology and Public Interest Related Information Disclosure Act 2010, and other relevant Legislation, with the aim to fulfil their respective mandates.

DT Global is committed to achieving the following key results:

• Strengthening the institutional capacity of the NBR and improve its revenue administration system, which will ultimately result in increased tax collection and improved revenue governance.
• Strengthening the institutional capacity of the OCAG and improve the systems and procedures in use to deliver audit services. This will ultimately result in improved quality and timeliness of external audits.
• Strengthening the institutional capacity of the National Parliament and improve the performance of the Parliamentary Financial Oversight Committees, ultimately resulting in the development of parliamentary oversight and scrutiny of public expenditures.