Economic challenges lie ahead for Bangladesh must be addressed

THE World Bank’s country director for Bangladesh, Abdoulaye Sec, has reminded the country of the overriding need for adopting itself to the paradigm shift in technology, global trade and economic regime, geopolitics and climate.

Bangladesh will have to run into some major challenges three years after completion of the graduation process from the least developed country in 2026, the WB country director points out.

Then the LDC trade preferences will cease to be as expected causing 14 per cent decline in Bangladesh’s export competitiveness accompanied with nine per cent increase in export tariff.

The trade tariff will not be enough to offset the resource crisis if the loopholes for drainage of money in the form of bad loans cannot be plugged.

Abdoulaye Sec, also concurrently accredited to Bhutan, at an event in the capital questions how Bangladesh prepared for meeting these challenges?

That its financial sector management has been dismal is more than evident from the fact that classified and non-performing loans have piled up to more than half of the country’s national budget.

To make the matter worse its forex reserve has been on a tailspin to drop to $23374.3 million in July last from quite satisfactory level of $48060.00 in August, fiscal 2021-22.

The July figure is according to the Balance of Payment and International Investment Position Manual as issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The major economic challenges, all tied to one another, have got experts worried when it comes to Bangladesh’s economic recovery.

There is a persistent higher rate of inflation, the upward trend of the foreign exchange rate, and a deepening liquidity crunch in the banking sector.

The people are suffering as a result of fast rising inflation. Some of that has been down to pressures emanating from the global economy.

However, other domestic factors have also contributed to the increasing prices, including the activities of trade syndicates.

Our policymakers, sadly, seem oblivious to the fact that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result has frequently been proven to be the definition of madness.

None of these challenges, according to experts, are beyond redress.

If our policymakers continue along with this loop of applying the same failed policies, then expecting them to be solved would be nothing short of wishful thinking.

They have to abandon failed old policies and employ fresh measures.

We have to exploit the potential of leather, footwear, pharmaceuticals, light engineering, and IT — all of which together could ensure an export income greater than apparel, now the country’s largest foreign exchange earner.

The country’s economic base would have been far stronger in the process.