Public procurement
Optimum utilisation of scarce resources is the hallmark of good economic governance. But this standard of economic governance is never achieved in the vital sphere of government procurement in Bangladesh. Notwithstanding gradual privatisation of the economy from the middle seventies, government is still a big player in the economic scene of the country. Government here is still considerably active in production, distribution and marketing activities and for these reasons as well as for its developmental activities in relation to various economic sectors, it has to run a myriad of public procurement programmes. But these procurement programmes have so far been fraught with corruption and inefficiency. Annually, a sum of Taka 70 billion on an average is spent on these procurement programmes, but substantial amounts of these resources are considered wasted due to corruption and the inability of the procurement departments and their personnel to conduct their activities efficiently.
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