Post-pandemic Bangladesh - A Beacon of Hope
Tanveer Islam
Considering the impact on Trade and Commerce, the 21st century belongs to Asian. The World Economic Forum (WEF) earlier reported that the East Asia-Pacific region is the most competitive in the world followed by Europe and North America. They also reported that the region is expected to contribute roughly 60% of the global growth by 2030 lifting 2.4 billion people to middle-class in the global economy. Asia might also produce half of the global GDP by 2050.
This is reinforced by the fact that Bangladesh is on its way to transform into an economic powerhouse similar to other economic titans in Asia. The country is expected to progress into a developing economy by 2026, as it first qualified and then sustained its success in all 3 criteria for graduation set by UNCDP in its triennial reviews. The government of Bangladesh has also taken a timely initiative to prepare the nation for ‘Graduation with momentum’ and ‘Smooth Transition’ into a new economic landscape. LDC graduation is essential for Bangladesh, to say the least, for becoming a developed nation having USD 1 trillion GDP, USD 12,000 per capita income and USD 300 billion international trade by 2041.
Our pre-pandemic economic growth became sluggish as the world economy slumped last year. However, our economy had managed to retain some of its tremors and, despite the adverse economic climate, maintained positive GDP growth throughout 2020 and 2021 thanks to the visionary and perceptive leadership of the Government of Bangladesh. Amidst the stern economic challenges, broken global supply chain system and prolonged lockdown across the world, the GDP of Bangladesh stands at USD 355 billion, Foreign Exchange Reserve at USD 46.39 billion and foreign trade at around USD 100 billion. Bangladesh, it seems, has struck a delicate balance between saving lives and providing livelihood to keep economic losses at a minimum with the help of digitalization, strong diplomatic ties and dynamic policy integrations.
To recapitulate, in the post-pandemic global economy, Bangladesh overshadows its neighboring behemoths with consisted development track record, strong private sector growth, prudent macro-economic management, growing export market, rising purchasing power and a growing domestic market of around 165 million people. We have proved once again that our economy is a rewarding trade and investment destination.
The writer is the general manager (Export) of ACI Limited. Email: [email protected]
