Rizwanul Islam

Dr Rizwanul Islam is an economist and former Special Adviser, Employment Sector, International Labour Office, Geneva.

Transformative power of ChatGPT

If one technological innovation is to be cited for capturing much of the talk time in discussions ranging from drawing rooms to corporate offices and academic institutions, it is ChatGPT. Released by Open AI in November 2022, this is a language model based on artificial intelligence (AI).

9m ago

FY24 budget ignores fiscal policy as a tool for equitable growth

Any effort at halting inequality and reversing the trend has to start from a political commitment, an understanding of the factors at work, and adoption of necessary measures to attain the goals.

10m ago

Meeting the conditions for the IMF Loan

As is well-known, credit from the IMF comes with strings attached, and the latest one is no exception.

11m ago

Is unemployment actually declining?

In countries like Bangladesh, where there is no provision for unemployment allowance, poor people cannot afford to remain without work.

1y ago

Rising inflation: What can be done?

The sharp rise in the rate of inflation witnessed in recent months is worrisome for at least two reasons: it is bad for investment decisions and economic growth, as well as for low-income people, especially those with fixed incomes.

1y ago

Race to the bottom must end

The owner of Hashem Foods factory remarked that they were not the ones who set the fire that took 52 lives, including children and adolescents.

2y ago

The war against Covid-19 is also stress-testing our limits as a species

I haven’t visited my children or grandchildren for nearly a year and a half, neither have they visited me. They live in the USA, and I in Europe.

3y ago

Economic recovery: hopes and trepidations

Although the budget for fiscal year 2020-21 projected a GDP growth of 8.2 per cent for the year, the Planning Commission has recently revised the projection down to 7.4 per cent.

3y ago

September 10, 2020

Six months of Covid-19: Is the economy on a path to inclusive recovery?

The Covid-19 pandemic derailed life as a whole and severely disrupted the global economy as well as that of Bangladesh. Looking at the impact on economic growth, the country was cruising at over 8 percent growth of GDP which then came down to 5.24 percent (according to government estimates).

September 4, 2020

Have real wages of workers started to fall?

It is by now well-known that the economic crisis that resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic has severely affected the employment and labour situation – globally as well as in Bangladesh.

June 2, 2020

Asian values or a system of social protection

Steps taken to combat the coronavirus have severely disrupted public life and have put the livelihoods of millions in jeopardy. The global economy is in deep recession, especially the economies of the developed world; and there is a great deal of uncertainty as to when and how it might end. This is perhaps the deepest crisis human beings are facing after the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Second World War.