On the road to a cherished dream
Those who labeled us a basket case should eat their words. It has been a hard grind but Bangladesh is at the threshold of joining the ranks of developed countries. The news couldn't have come on a better day—on the eve of the country's 49th Victory Day. It has been a long 49 years since the day in December when the UN included Bangladesh in the list of 25 Least Developed Countries after the world body formally endorsed the three criteria. According to the UNCTAD, Bangladesh is well on its way to graduate to a developing country from a least developed country as, according to its estimates, our score in all three criteria, namely, Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, Human Assets Index (HAI) and Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI), would be much higher than the required score for graduation next year. It was only in 2015 that Bangladesh became eligible for graduation in 2018 by crossing the threshold of the World Bank-defined lower middle-income country. The UNCTAD forecast is even more encouraging given that the country had to combat a global pandemic that stunted the steady growth of nearly eight percent year on year.
However, while we can rightly rejoice at our soon-to-be newly acquired status, what the planners should stress upon is the equitable distribution of income across the board to make growth and development meaningful. The negative consequences that our graduation to a developed country would entail should also be taken into cognisance. Scholars foresee certain predictable impacts. According to the Committee for Development Policy of the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs, the most important impact of Bangladesh's graduation would be on trade, which might affect specific market access provisions accorded to LDCs. Equally importantly, we are likely to lose access to the benefit of duty free quota for LDCs and to simplified rules of origin reserved for LDCs. That will pose an impediment to our garment exports. Our future policy, therefore, should be crafted to offset all the likely adverse impacts so that the road to further progress is unhindered.
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