Dr. Khurshid Alam started his career as a member of the 1981 batch of Bangladesh Civil Service (Administration) cadre. On completion of his foundation training at the Civil Officers Training Academy he started as Assistant Commissioner in Chittagong District and subsequently in field administration of Gazipur District. IN 1985 he went to USA for studies and in 1990 completed his Ph.D. in Economics from Boston University. On return from USA he served with the Ministry of Finance and then on deputation with the national airline, Bangladesh Biman. In 1995 he joined the World Bank, where he served as Senior Private Sector Development Specialist in the South Asia Private Sector and Finance (SASFP) Department, until taking retirement in August 2012.
Name: G.M. Khurshid Alam
Nationality: Bangladeshi
Education
Ph.D. Economics, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA (1990).
M.A. Economics, Boston University, MA, USA.
M.A. and B.A. (Honours) Economics, Dhaka University, Bangladesh
Major Professional Training Received
|
Specific Experience
- Operations Director, Policy Research Institute – involved in policy and operational decision making, maintaining liaison and communication with different stakeholders and participate in negotiations for PRI business development; provide expert services in areas of private sector development, infrastructure, and finance areas of PRI work; participate as team member in other PRI led work on Trade, Five Year Plan implementation, urban strategy, social protection, climate change etc.
- Consultant, Annual Review of the DFID/EU financed Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (BICF) project – The work was part of the independent annual review for 2013 of the DFID/EU financed Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (BICF) project. The review covered assessment of annual progress since the last annual review of BICF, and sustainability beyond the project period of the different components. More specifically, the review included the five thematic areas covering regulatory simplification, alternate dispute resolution, tax streamlining, investment generation in priority sectors, and the public-private dialogue initiative (BUILD), being implemented by BICF in partnership with different public and private institutions.
- Consultant, USAID supported Trade Assessment Study – Worked as consultant to CARANA Corporation, USA, which undertook a study of the southwest region of Bangladesh on behalf of USAID. The objective has been to assess the potential to increase regional and global trade in that region. The focus included the policy framework, the institutional capacity, regulatory and logistical challenges, and the issues and constraints relating to value chain of some of the potential products of the Khulna, Barisal, and Jessore regions. Contributed to the report identifying some of the key constraints to trade in order to determine the potential for promoting regional and global trade linkages with southwestern region of Bangladesh.
- Ø The World Bank, Senior Private Sector Specialist,
South Asia Region, Finance & Private Sector Development Sector Department (SASFP)
- Primary responsibilities included Task Team Leader of some major Projects under the World Bank’s IDA lending program; policy dialogue with Government on private sector development and financial sector issues; preparing policy notes; providing inputs for major economic sector work (ESW) like investment climate assessment.
- Specific work areas included regulatory reforms, institutional capacity building, privatization, state owned enterprise reforms, trade reforms, export diversification, customs administration reforms, regulatory and institutional issues and implementation of public private partnership (PPP) investments, implementation of Economic zones for industrial growth, financial sector reforms, for building an enabling environment for private sector development. Institutional capacity building and regulatory reforms included working with institutions like Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Finance, BEPZA, BOI, Customs Administration under NBR, Privatization Commission, the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Law, Bangladesh Bank.
- Some of the IDA funded projects for which he had been Task Team Leader/ Co-Task Team Leaderinclude: Enterprise Growth and Bank Modernization Project (EGBMP), Private Sector Development Support Project (PSDSP), Legal and Judicial Capacity Building Project (LJCBP), Export Diversification Project (BDXDP).
- Besides he had been Task Team Member of other IDA projects like the Sixth Technical Assistance Project (TA VI), Private Sector Infrastructure Development Project (PSIDP); Infrastructure Promotion and Financing Facility (IPFF) project.
- Team member of all the budget support operations of the Bank since 2002 under different Development Support Credits (DSCs), and the last PRSC.
- The EGBMP helped directly create over 100,000 new jobs, privatize or close down loss making state owned enterprises, convert to major loss making enterprises (The Adamjee Jute Mills and the Chittagong Steel Mills) into two successful export processing zones (EPZs), reformed the state owned banks and brought them under the jurisdiction of the Central Bank, created refinancing window in the Bangladesh Bank (the Small Enterprise Fund) to provide credit to small enterprises, and institutional capacity building. The Small Enterprise Fund (SEF) has become a good refinancing window for commercial banks to finance small enterprises. The success of SEF later led ADB and other donor agencies to provide additional funds beyond what had initially been provided by the World Bank through EGBMP.
- The ongoing PSDSP is expected to bring in sustainable industrialization and creation of jobs under the new Special Economic Zones regime of the Government. He had been part of the PSDSP from the time it was conceived, and been involved in its preparation and approval by the World Bank Board.
- The objective of LJCBP was to bring about institutional reforms in the court system through some fundamental changes in case flow management, court administration, updated, alternate dispute resolution (ADR) and reformed laws and regulations, etc. for improving the enabling environment for private sector development.
- The BDXDP was primarily trade facilitation project, which aimed at institutional capacity building for export diversification and policy, regulatory, and procedural reforms in some key private sector related government institutions. In the process it supported the Ministry of Commerce, the Tariff Commission, and the National Board of Revenue (NBR). The Ministry of Commerce component focused on capacity building, better analytical skills, and supporting institutions for export diversification. The NBR component focused on improving trade facilitation through Customs administration modernization, under which the ASYCUDA++ system was implemented to facilitate and bring in efficiency in customs process.
- For the other project components where he had been Task manager included: (i), implementation of institutional capacity building of (a) National Board of Revenue (NBR); (b) the then Privatization Board (later converted to Privatization Commission); (c) the Public Service Commission; and (d) the Tariff Commission., under the IDA funded Sixth technical Assistance project (TA VI project), and (ii) the technical assistance component for privatization of the national airline, Bangladesh Biman., under IDAs Private Sector Infrastructure Development Project (PSIDP),
- As Team Leader produced a policy note on PPP Regulatory Framework Review (2011). Besides, he had contributed to some important Bank publications: (1) Government that Works-Reforming the Public Sector (1996); (2) Taming Leviathan – Reforming Governance in Bangladesh (2002);(3) Trade Policy Reform for Improving the Incentive Regime (1996);(4) Doing Business in South Asia (2007); (5)Bangladesh Investment Climate Assessment (2008).
