Dr Fahmida Khatun is the Executive Director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a civil society think tank in Bangladesh. Earlier, she worked as a Research Fellow at the BIDS, an Environment Specialist for the 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.

Dr Khatun sits regularly in various policy-making and advisory bodies at home and abroad. She is a member of the Board of Bangladesh Bank. 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 organisation in the world, which works for the cause of the 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. 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.

She did her Postdoctoral research at Columbia University, USA, and undertook joint research with Professor Jeffery Sachs. She has a Masters and PhD in Economics from University College London (UCL), University of London. She has also participated in the Leadership Decision-Making programme at Harvard University, USA.

Dr Khatun’s expertise includes macroeconomic policy, climate change, environment, energy economics, aid effectiveness, international trade and WTO issues, digital economy, youth employment, social issues including health and education, 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.

Dr Khatun regularly speaks on economic issues in the 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. She is invited regularly to write for the East Asia Forum based in the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University.