Journal of Public Administration Volume 2, Issue 1, 2020, PP 11-23 ISSN 2642-8318 Journal of Public Administration V2 ● I1 ● 2020 11 Privatization in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities MD. Awal Hossain Mollah* Professor and Ex- Chair, Department of Public Administration University of Rajshahiawal, Bangladesh *Corresponding Author: MD. Awal Hossain Mollah, Professor and Ex- Chair, Department of Public Administration University of Rajshahiawal, Email:h2007@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Privatization is one of the discourses in the development of literature as the opportunity of the growth and development of countries all around the world. Despite the expansion of privatization programs, the results have been different from one country to another. Some could achieve the desired goals and some failed enormously. The reasons for their failure include structural constraints, inappropriate policy guidelines, imposed instruction, and ineffective implementation strategies (Amin and Khanam, 2018). However, the World Bank and the IMF have been gearing up the campaign of privatization for less developed countries (LDCs) to stimulate their growth and development (Amin and Khanam, 2018). The LDCs doing otherwise are sometimes debarred from crucial concessionary finance from these organizations and other northern aid donors. Some LDCs have adopted privatization programs of their own volition. Others have grudgingly done so owing to the pressure from the governments of industrialized countries through international donor agencies. Privatization is, in reality, a component of structural programs based on notions of economic liberalization, free trade, competition and limited government intervention (Haque, 1999). World Bank claims that privatization brings more transparent accounting and improved economic performance and facilitates development goals such as increased investment, GDP, productivity and employment (Amin and Khanam, 2018). This paper analyse the regime based status of privatization and its present challenges and future opportunities for economic development in Bangladesh. DEFINING PRIVATIZATION Certain terms such as privatization, denationalization, and disinvestment are, on many occasions, used synonymously. Privatization is the transfer of ownership from the public sector (government) to the private sector (business). A transfer in the opposite direction could be referred to the nationalization or municipalization of some property or responsibility. Privatization includes state policies that shift from the public sector to the private sector the financing and supply of a good or service. The privatization process includes subcontracting of the supply and elimination of some of the operations carried out by this along with the implementation or the reform in the existing regulation (Páez and Silva, 2010). In a broad sense, privatization implies the transfer of a function, activity, or organization from the public to the private sector as described by Montes (2004). The term privatization is also sometimes used to refer to government subcontracting a service or function to a private firm. It has also been used to describe an unrelated, nongovernmental interaction involving the buyout, by the majority owner, of all shares of a holding company's stock- privatizing a publicly traded stock. ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to critically examine the state of privatization in Bangladesh focused on the challenges and opportunities. Privatization is one of the slogans in the literature of NPM which emerged as a new approach in Public Administration. Despite the phenomenal expansion of privatization programs, the results differed from country to country. Privatization in Bangladesh has been facing a lot of challenges but it has ample opportunities for development through domestic and foreign direct investment. The paper is qualitative in nature and case study on Bangladesh. The study has been conducted by using secondary data, like daily newspapers, journal articles, research papers, magazines, and bulletins. Keywords: Privatization, Economic Development, Bangladesh.