ABSTRACT
Bangladesh has experienced significant volatility in trends of major macroeconomic correlates during the COVID-19 pandemic. The country rolled out, quite expeditiously, several public policy interventions to mitigate the fallouts of the scourge. It contends that in the face of demand deceleration – both internal and external and supply chain disruption, mostst countries, including Bangladesh, will need to pursue a countercyclical policy stance. Thus, fiscal interventions – more on the public expenditure side – play a more effective role than the deployment of monetary instruments. The study concludes that it is not the lack of resources restricting the appropriate expansion of pandemic-related fiscal interventions in Bangladesh but the government's inability to deliver its own public expenditure program impactfully.
