Economics | The Daily Star

  • 'JOBLESS GROWTH' IN BANGLADESH

    Although a large population is traditionally seen as a bottleneck for rapid growth in a country like Bangladesh, recent development literature highlights two-way positive interactions between population and economic growth, especially in terms of its changing age structure.

  • Are we prepared to face a volatile job market?

    The global economic outlook of Bangladesh looks positive due to its high GDP growth rate, political stability, and geopolitical support.

  • Directed Interest Rate Reduction: Will it be counterproductive?

    Recently, Bangladesh Association of Bankers (BAB), a body representing the owners of private commercial banks in Bangladesh, announced that interest rates charged by these financial institutions would be brought down to the single digits from July 1.

  • Populist pursuit before elections?

    The Finance Minister has placed the national budget for fiscal year 2018-19 before parliament for “discussion” and “approval” by the house.

  • What middle-income status means for Child Budget

    According to a report, Bangladesh has recently achieved the benchmark qualifications of a middle-income country. The certification of this status will take several years, as the UN would want to be convinced first that the country is unlikely to slide back to its previous state. But the fact remains that in 2018, we have met the criteria.

  • Time to take sports seriously

    Bangladesh has always been a sports-loving nation. Sports brings people together irrespective of religion or social and economic background. Our women's football or cricket teams are obvious examples of how sports can promote women's empowerment and gender equality. Bangladesh's women footballers are now competing with foreign women football leagues which was unthinkable even a few years ago.

  • A new Asian tiger?

    Jonathan Garber, the markets editor at Business Insider, wrote an article addressing Bangladesh as a “New Asian Tiger” which attracted significant attention from researchers, policy-level practitioners, and many more relevant personnel.

  • Bangladesh sustain economic growth

    Can Bangladesh sustain its growth momentum?

    What is the future economic growth prospect of Bangladesh? An analysis of Bangladesh's past economic growth in a comparative perspective can help find an answer to this question.

  • For a healthy banking industry

    Corporate governance (CG) has now become a prime concern for policymakers around the globe.

  • A global aging population and Bangladesh's economy

    Many of the industrialised economies are going through an unprecedented demographic change called “population aging”.

  • Disruption on its way, are banks ready?

    The technolo-gical revolution is shaking up the banking industry like all other industries. Today, millennials are no more interested in using the banking system that was designed so long ago and is so outdated.

  • A matter of definition?

    In 2015, we welcomed the good news that Bangladesh had graduated from the low-income to low-middle-income status in the World Bank's classification of countries.

  • Blue Economy - Are we ready for it?

    Blue economy means extraction of the resources of sea for the growth of an economy. Bangladesh has settled maritime boundary disputes with Myanmar in 2012 and with India in 2014 through an arbitral method. It is estimated that Bangladesh has acquired 118,813 square kilometres of the Bay of Bengal. The areas of resources include 200 nautical miles of exclusive economic zone and over 354 nautical miles of resources on seabed (continental shelf). It is estimated that the resources from the sea of Bangladesh constitute 81 percent of the resources existing in its land territory.

  • Why Bangladesh's inequality is likely to rise

    The issues of growing income inequality and unequal distribution of wealth between the rich and the poor have lately gained traction across the west. Oxfam's yearly inequality report serves as the most damning indictment of this rise in disparity. Eighty-two percent of the entire global wealth created last year, the report estimates, went straight into the pockets of the richest one percent of the world's population. The poorest 50 percent, on the other hand, received zero percent of that wealth.

  • An anatomy of 'jobless growth' in Bangladesh

    According to the official statistics, between 2013 and 2016-17, on average, gross domestic product (GDP) in Bangladesh grew annually by 6.6 percent, and there has been a net increase of 2.8 million new jobs on top of the 60.7 million jobs that existed in the economy in 2013.

  • Politicians and misguided economic policy

    Economists are taking quite a beating these days. Politicians, most of who feel they understand economics, have either maligned

  • Why we should rethink financial inclusion

    The good news is that mobile phones and alternate banking channels such as agent banking are bringing millions of individuals into the formal financial system, meaning they have bank accounts or mobile money account for the first time. This is important because financial inclusion is crucial in helping people save money for emergencies, get loans to start businesses, and ultimately resulting in an improvement in their overall wellbeing.

  • Can mounting inequality be stopped?

    Pre-budget discussion for the upcoming fiscal year (2018-19) is going on in the fast track. Even though the Finance Minister will present the budget in parliament after more than a month, business associations are meeting the Chairman of National Board of Revenue (NBR) almost every day.

  • Better managing our agricultural sector

    Sustainable agro supply chain management includes a number of processes such as supply management, production management,

  • Tap into resources abroad to develop human capital at home

    Three years ago, the then president of Uruguay, José Mujica, travelled to Berlin to meet Chancellor Merkel. She had already been in office for 10 years and was well accustomed to receiving Third World leaders seeking monetary assistance to contribute to the development of their countries. If she thought she was about to meet another such leader, she was in for a surprise.

  • We need reliable infrastructure, not megaprojects

    Bangladesh newspapers bring me good news and sometimes not so good ones too. In the latter category, I include accounts of tailbacks, road accidents, power failures, and factory fires.

  • Why is solar power development so slow in Bangladesh?

    The pace at which renewable energy including solar and wind is being developed worldwide suggests that these will overtake the fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal) as dominant sources in power generation in a shorter time frame than previously forecasted. In mid-1990s renowned energy experts predicted that oil, gas and coal will remain the predominant fuel for power generation until 2030.

  • RIP to GDP? Not So Fast

    Recently, David Pilling had a write-up entitled “Do we need to say RIP (Rest in Peace) to GDP?” The write-up draws on his latest book The Growth Delusion on which he recently spoke at the Oxford Literary Festival.

  • Is LDC graduation a panacea?

    Bangladesh has successfully met all three criteria for LDC graduation in the first review in March 2018. It is expected that Bangladesh will be able to meet the graduation criteria in the second review in 2021 and will finally graduate from the LDC status in 2024.

  • How Bangladesh should respond to global apparel industry changes

    I read an interesting article the other day about a cotton spinning company based in Manchester, England. Although the company, by Bangladesh's standards, produces high volumes of product, it has established a niche for itself in the UK and Japan with customers who appreciate both quality and locality of resource.

  • Navigating in an inhospitable global and regional environment

    The global economy is experiencing a multitude of transitions in terms of economic and geopolitical rebalancing, ongoing technological change and emerging social and political risks. These transitions are expected to have far-reaching impacts on Bangladesh's economy, which is becoming increasingly integrated with the global and regional economies.

  • safe water

    How to ensure smooth transition after LDC graduation

    Bangladesh will cross a number of milestones during its implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

  • Mapping out a strategy

    Bangladesh has become eligible for LDC graduation at the triennial review of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) held in March 2018 by meeting the thresholds for graduation: Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, the Human Assets Index (HAI) and the Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI). Bangladesh has been able to satisfy all the three graduation criteria and that also with significant comfort margins.

  • Learning from peers and graduates

    The outlook for the United Nations' (UN) list of least developed countries (LDCs) is finally looking optimistic after 47 years of lacklustre performance since the category's establishment in 1971. There have been 52 inclusions and only five graduations to date according to the UN Committee for Development Policy's (CDP) triennial reviews. Bangladesh, an LDC, remains on track for graduation.

  • RMG SECTOR

    What negotiators should keep in mind

    The government of Bangladesh has recently formed a new wage board for the readymade garment (RMG) industry where 4.4 million workers are currently employed. There are around 45 industrial sectors in our country, each with its own set minimum wage. This means that there is no national minimum wage.

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