Dhaka, April 19 -- Those who defaulted on loans in Bangladesh have since embedded themselves within the country's political system and are now among the primary obstacles to meaningful economic reform, prominent economist Rehman Sobhan said Sunday.

"Reform in Bangladesh cannot be achieved simply by enacting laws," said Sobhan, chairman of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD). "A credible reform framework must be multi-layered and account for ground realities."

He was speaking on the concluding day of the 9th Annual Economists' Conference of the South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM).

Sobhan outlined what he described as the three pillars of effective reform: sound legislation, a capable administrative structure, and the poli...