Dr Zaidi Sattar is the Chairman of Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh. He is a trade and development economist who has contributed profoundly to the preparation of various national plans and strategies. He served as the Co-Team Leader during the preparation of the Perspective Plan 2021, Perspective Plan 2041 and the LDC Graduation strategy. As part of his career with the World Bank Dhaka Office, he was instrumental in promoting flagship national economic reforms of the 1990s. He works very closely with the National Board of Revenue and the parliamentary oversight committee on financial management and thus should be able to secure high-level buy-in for the proposed Centre’s activities. He is also renowned for his work on trade protection and revenue implications.

Dr Ahsan Mansur is the Executive Director of PRI, and a former Division Chief of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department. As part of his long career in IMF, he worked on economic reforms and macroeconomic surveillance in 12 countries. He also served as the IMF Fiscal Adviser to the Minister of Finance and helped implement the VAT system in Bangladesh when it was first introduced in the early 1990s. Dr Mansur is considered as the country’s leading macroeconomist with specialisation in fiscal and banking sector reforms and public spending management. He has led many flagship projects Ministry of Finance  such as Strengthening of Public Expenditure Management Project.

Dr M.A Razzaque, the proposed director for the PRI CDRM, is a trained economist specialising in applied development issues with extensive empirical policy research, teaching, and senior management experience at international level. During 2007-17, he served  in Commonwealth Secretariat in London in various capacities including Head of its International Trade work programme. He possesses outstanding managerial skills and has led and managed numerous multi-country (involving sub-Saharan African, South Asian, Caribbean and Pacific economies) and country-specific policy research, advocacy, and capacity-building projects. During the past four years he has worked closely with senior officials in Bangladesh while leading high-profile PRI activities.

Promito Musharraf Bhuiyan joined the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) as a Senior Research Associate in October 2018. In July 2023, Promito assumed the additional responsibility of Programme Coordinator at the PRI Study Centre on Domestic Resource Mobilisation (CDRM). He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the School of Business and Economics at North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2015, majoring in Marketing. While pursuing this Degree, Promito did an Internship at the Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), working for the Solar Home System Program under IDCOL’s Renewable Energy Department. He then earned a Master’s Degree in International Commerce and Policy with concentration on Global Development and Governance in 2018, from the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, Virginia, USA. Keen interest in topics such as economic development and international relations, combined with the passion for deeper analysis of these issues inspired Promito to pursue a career in the field of research.

Ahmed Farah Ulfat is a research enthusiast working as a PRI Research Associate. Prior to joining PRI, she worked as a Research Associate at SANEM (South Asian Network on Economic Modeling). She did her masters in Economics from York University, Canada and was a Graduate Fellow & Teaching Assistant of the Department of Economics, York University. Prior to that, she did her undergrad from North South University in BS in Economics. She has one publication in the International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy and presented that paper in the 16th Asian Business Research Conference 2019, Global Research Institution for Business Academics. Her area of research interest includes macroeconomic policy, poverty, inequality, fiscal policy and education.

Ishrat Jahan Ishita is working as a research associate at PRI. She is keenly interested in learning issues related to policy analysis and aspires to acquire extensive knowledge and skills in this particular field. Prior to joining PRI, she worked as a research associate at YY Ventures, where she gained experience in different aspects of research design and implementation through working on several projects led by UNHCR and FAO. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Economics from North South University and is currently pursuing her master’s at the same institution.