Two ministers have come down heavily on the Centre for Policy Dialogue over its latest survey, saying the research organisation underestimates the government's development efforts.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday said the government has done many development works that the CPD does not recognise.

“They [the CPD] have found all the policies [of the government] wrong.”

The government policies have lifted the country to a new high but the CDP does not acknowledge this. “The CPD is bent on bringing Bangladesh down. That's all,” he mentioned.

Facing a volley of questions from journalists, a visibly annoyed Muhith termed the CPD findings “all rubbish”.

In its survey published yesterday, the CPD said the economy has come under pressure due to the banking sector crisis, inflation and soaring import.

The banking sector is suffering from cronyism, the think tank said, adding that irregularities and embezzlement of public funds are taking place with influential people involved in it.

Yesterday, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said the CPD disappointed people of the country.

“The CPD does not see development in the country,” the minister said at a press briefing at his secretariat office after the publication of the CPD findings.

Tofail said the World Bank, noted economists, and globally renowned research organisations have all been praising the government's development activities.

Poverty rate in the country declined to 22.4 percent last year from 43 percent in 2006. At the same time, the ultra-poverty rate also dropped to 11.9 percent from 17.6 percent, he mentioned.

The CPD has eventually helped the opposition by publishing the report, Tofail said. “There is no difference between the statements of the BNP and the CPD.”

Those who used to criticise Bangladesh as a “bottomless basket” now identify the country as a model of development, he added.

Asked, CPD Distinguished Fellow Mustafizur Rahman said the think tank does not publish its report with any specific time in mind. 

“We have been publishing the Independent Review of Bangladesh's Development [IRBD] periodically since 1995.” And the achievements and challenges of the country are presented objectively in the IRBD reports, he said.

“By analysing the government data, we also provide constructive suggestions for the country's advancement,” Mustafizur said.