Dr Ashikur Rahman is a Principal Economist at the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) and Member Secretary of Bangladesh Economists’ Forum (BEF) – leading association of eminent professional and academic economists from Bangladesh. He has worked as a policy economist in Bangladesh for more than a decade and has also contributed to a wide range of national and sectoral policy documents. Prior to this, he completed his Ph.D. in Government (Political Economy) at the London School of Economics. Mr. Rahman also has an MPA in Public and Economic Policy and BSc. in Economics (Hons) from the LSE. Dr Rahman has been a consultant for a number of government bodies and development partners – such as the Planning Commission, World Bank, ADB, UNDP, FCDO-DFID, IGC, IRRI and JICA.
Dr Rahman has worked extensively in areas such as economic planning, development and governance – and is specialized in undertaking economic research, strategic planning, high-level policy analysis and advocacy, institutional assessment, investment-climate analysis, policy evaluation, and econometric examinations. He has contributed to international journals, domestic reports, working papers and formulation of some of the transformative flagship national policy documents for GoB, namely – the National Social Security Strategy, the Seventh Five Year Plan [2016-2020], the Eight Five Year Plan [2021-2025] and the Mid-Term Implementation Review of the 8th Plan.
This experience of working at the intersection of economic research and high-level policy engagement has deepened his competencies to navigate critical political economy challenges underpinning policy negotiations between stakeholders with competing objectives. This has also helped him develop the craft of promoting useful international best practices, advocating beneficial institutional and regulatory reforms, and identifying ideas that can allow the policymaking process to deliver incremental improvements. Mr. Rahman has also worked at other key Think-Tanks, namely Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), and BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD).
He currently also teaches in the North South University (NSU) and is a frequent contributor to electronic media, national and international newspapers, such as: BBC World Services, The Telegraph (UK), Central Banking (UK), The Telegraph (India), Straits Times (Singapore), Al Jazeera, DW (Germany), The Indian Express, NDTV, People’s Daily (China), Caixin (China), The Daily Star, Prothom Alo, Dhaka Tribune, Ittefaq, Bonik Barta, The Financial Express, and The Business Standard.
