Attaining inclusive, equitable socio-economic development

Dr. Atiur Rahman
Governor, Bangladesh Bank :
Perhaps, we already know what to expect in the new flagship BEF publication outlining multi-track, multi-dimension pathways for needed concerted progress on multiple fronts in pacing up our inclusive sustainable socioeconomic growth and development momentum towards attaining higher middle income country status by 2030 and advanced economy status by the decade of forties.
Comprehensiveness of coverage, objective appraisal of traits of strengths and weaknesses, and a confident optimism solidly grounded on Bangladesh’s broad social consensus for inclusive, equitable socioeconomic development are the defining features of this new BEF publication bringing together papers presented in the first BEF conference held in 2014 by BEF founder members, erudite academics and seasoned development professionals. I believe that even a cursory browsing through of this voluminous publication would evoke in Bangladeshi readers a sense enthusiasm and engagement the country’s growth aspirations and efforts; not least because we succeeded in crossing over the lower middle income country group income threshold expected for 2021 as early as in 2014. I earnestly look forward to seeing the broadest possible dissemination of this new publication among our policy makers, academia, development professionals and civil society organizations; both for deepening discourse and debate on development issues and for stimulating new activism on the multiple fronts and dimensions comprehensively covered in the publication.
Let me take this opportunity to share with you my perspectives on some of the major pathways for growth and development highlighted in the publication, in light of the current state of play in the global and local scenes.
We cannot possibly rely as much on export led growth as we expected earlier, given that the potential gains from the thrust of WTO led trade liberalization and globalization have largely run their course. Global trade growth is no longer outpacing even the current tepid global output growth, and is actually trailing it. Developed economies and some of the developing economies are seeking to uphold trade driven growth by shaping up new plurilateral trade blocs outside the WTO framework for preferential trade between bloc members. Countries outside the trade value chains of these blocks are going to face heightening barriers for their exports to markets in these blocks. Joining one of such blocks will not be an easy option for lower income economies like Bangladesh either; the heavy social costs of immediate withdrawal of the remaining few protections for domestic producers required in joining such blocks may not be politically feasible. Domestic demand driven growth is therefore the alternative that we will have to rely more on. This though is no cause for despair and entirely doable in our economy with rising income in the large domestic market with population of 160 million. The key requisites for upholding domestic demand driven growth are the social empowerment of, and inclusive financing support for output initiatives of all population segments; priorities already well articulated in policies and programs of the government and the BB.
Efficient land use planning has emerged now as another new high priority area of attention for Bangladesh; with scarcity and high cost of land suitable for siting industrial projects seriously impeding new foreign and local investment, and with sprawls of low rise rural habitats shrinking the area under agricultural production. We need new in depth work on appraisal and policy options for addressing this issue snagging progress on our growth path.
Adaptation to looming global warming driven sea level rise threats facing our vulnerable population segments, and the needed broader countrywide transition to energy efficient low emission environmentally sustainable output practices and lifestyles are in my view the other major new priority areas for attention. Bangladesh Government’s and BB’s pioneering initiatives in these areas have already earned global recognition, but our initial steps need to be followed up by much more broad based engagement of experts, academics, entrepreneurs and civil society activists.
I would like next to doubly underline the high priority already accorded in the BEF publication to good governance and strengthening of institutions. Public institutions like the monetary, financial and capital market regulators in Bangladesh have suffered much from undue external influence denying them free hand in decisions on licensing, regulation and supervision of financial markets and institutions; management efficiency in SOEs has remained abysmal for much the same reason, eroding accountability and entailing enormous drain on public resources. Only full empowerment of institutions in pursuing clearly defined objectives can bring efficiency by making these fully accountable for results. The need for good governance and accountability is paramount not only in the executive, but also in the other organs of governance including the legislative and judiciary, for upholding equitable, socially just and environmentally sustainable socioeconomic growth and development.