Staff Reporter :
World Bank Chief Economist Dr. Kaushik Basu identified bureaucratic tangle as main barrier to the economic development of Bangladesh.
Dr. Basu said this at a press conference organized by Bangladesh Bank (BB) and the World Bank (WB) at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre on Tuesday. BB Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman presided at the meeting.
The WB chief economist, however, expressed his optimism that within a short time Bangladesh will be new Asian Tiger in the world.
The press conference was organised on the occasion of a five-day official visit of Bangladesh by the WB Chief Economist Dr. Kaushik Basu.
He said, poor infrastructure is the second hurdle though Bangladesh made remarkable progress in many economic and social indicators, and attention should be given to cut bureaucratic tangle and improve infrastructure.
The World Bank chief economist said, financial prospect of the country is very high. Still it will have to be more conscious.
He said the country’s infrastructure as one of its weakest arenas. It has developed a lot, but much more work will have to be done. He said, the country should expand its tax’s area in order to grow domestic product ratio, which, in turn, will help spend on its infrastructure development.
He said a strong partnership could be developed between the World Bank and Bangladesh following the country’s recent graduation of the lower middle-income group.
Dr. Kaushik Basu, who is the second WB chief economist from a developing country and the first from India, said, Bangladesh’s investment to GDP ratio has now grown to 29 per cent and per capita income stands at $1,314.
