"South Asian countries will have to accelerate and sustain the economic growth they have achieved so far and make it more inclusive, strengthen human development and improve governance," said World Bank Chief Economist for South Asia region Dr Shantayanan Devarajan told a seminar.

Development Studies Group of Independent University Bangladesh (IUB) organised the seminar at the Business School of IUB in the capital.

As the region-wide acceleration of development created an opportunity to put an end to extreme poverty, Devarajan stressed that the nations must shake off complacency and face the challenges to achieve the goal.

Devarajan in his keynote speech documented the rapid growth rate and its impact on poverty reduction, along with the troubling rise in inequality.

While talking about the rising regional disparity, he projected that growth is fastest in urban areas and faster for the richer section of the society.

South Asian states can face the challenges by embracing greater openness to make the governments more successful and responsive to the needs, he said, adding that while government failures are notoriously difficult to correct, the fact that reducing some of them in the past has contributed to the subcontinent's recent success.

"And the increasing openness of South Asian societies has created the 'political space' for policy and institutional reforms needed to lift 400 million people of the region out of poverty," he observed.

He underscored various problems, such as unemployment, slow rise in agricultural production, excessive interference by governments and institutional weaknesses as obstacles to rapid growth in South Asia.

To overcome such challenges, Devarajan, who taught governance at Harvard University before joining the World Bank, suggested a number of measures, which include bringing down of corruption level, improvement in institutional weakness of governance, reduction of the size of public sectors and less regulatory framework.

He also pointed out that the problem is not technical, but managerial as a whole. Terming Bangladesh's macro-economic management the best in the region, Devarajan appreciated the country's achievement in this sector.

IUB Vice Chancellor Prof Bazlul Mobin Chowdhury and Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof Omar Rahman were also present at the seminar.