Dr. Fahmida Khatun
Executive Director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh
Dr. Fahmida Khatun is the Executive Director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a civil society think tank in Bangladesh. She is also a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, a think tank based in the USA.
She did her postdoctoral research at Columbia University, USA, and undertook joint research with Professor Jeffrey Sachs. She has a master’s degree and a PhD in Economics from University College London (UCL), University of London. She has also participated in the Leadership Decision-Making program at Harvard University, USA.
Dr. Khatun regularly participates in various policy-making and advisory bodies at home and abroad. She is currently a Director on the Bangladesh Bank (Central Bank of Bangladesh) Board and a member of the Task Force on Re-strategizing the Economy and Mobilizing Resources for Equitable and Sustainable Development formed by the current interim government of Bangladesh.
Dr. Khatun is a member of the High-level Advisory Board on the Productive Capacities Index of UNCTAD. She is also a member of the BRAC Board, the largest non-governmental organization in the world, which works for the cause of left-behind people. Dr. Khatun is a member of the Task Force on Climate, Development, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an initiative of Boston University, USA.
Earlier, she worked as a Research Fellow at BIDS, an Environment Specialist for UNDP, and an Economist for the USAID Mission in Bangladesh. She taught economics at universities in Bangladesh and England and was a Visiting Fellow at various international research organizations. In 2023, she was the Co-Chair of the T20 Task Force on “Accelerating SDGs: Exploring New Pathways to the 2030 Agenda” to the G20.
Dr. Khatun’s expertise includes macroeconomic policy, climate change, environment, energy economics, aid effectiveness, international trade and WTO issues, digital economy, youth employment, health issues, interests of Least Developed Countries, Sustainable Development Goals, and women’s contribution to the economy.
She has several publications to her credit at home and abroad (https://cpd.org.bd/resources/2024/08/FK_Selected-Publications-August-2024.pdf).
Dr. Khatun regularly speaks on economic issues in national and international media, including BBC World Service Television, Al Jazeera Television, and Voice of America Radio. She regularly contributed to BBC Bangla at the BBC World Service during 1991-96 in London. She hosted popular talk shows on national television on economic issues. She is a columnist for The Daily Star, a leading daily in Bangladesh (https://www.thedailystar.net/author/dr-fahmida-khatun). She is regularly invited to write for the East Asia Forum, which is based in the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University (https://eastasiaforum.org/author/fahmidakhatun/)