Dhaka, Bangladesh (CU)_ The Wall Street Journal announced that Bangladesh is emerging as South Asia’s “economic bull case.” According to WSJ’s Hong Kong-based reporter Mike Bird, Bangladesh is well-known in South Asia, for being the “closest proxy” for the active development models of South Korea, China, and Vietnam.
According to the study, Bangladesh is yet another example of how export-led growth has the strongest modern track record of shifting countries from extreme poverty to middle-income status. Last week, the United Nations’ Committee for Development Policy proposed that Bangladesh be removed from the least developed country category, which it had occupied for the majority of its history since its independence 50 years ago, and graduate to developing nation status.
According to the survey, Bangladesh’s exports have increased by about 80% in terms of US dollar over the last decade with the country’s flourishing textile industry, whereas the exports of India and Pakistan have marginally decreased. Bangladesh’s GDP per capita in terms of US dollars was 40% lower than India in 2011. However, due to India’s pandemic-related decline, Bangladesh’s GDP per capita raised last year, but the IMF believes that the gap will not expand in the near future.
According to the study, the rapid economic growth of Bangladesh should be supported by greater cooperation in Southeast Asia. Bangladesh is not a member of multilateral Asian economic cooperation organizations such as ASEAN, RCEP, or the CPTPP. To begin, diversifying the country’s manufacturing exports by increasing involvement in intra-Asian supply chains and forging closer economic ties with its eastern neighbors can yield better results. The study quoted Vietnam and Cambodia as examples and suggested that Bangladesh’s next move must be to shift to higher-value forms of manufacturing and exporting.
