Rayhan Ahmed Topader :
UGH often described as one of the least developed countries in South Asia, Bangladesh has overcome significant challenges to become a production hub for international companies that want to enjoy the cheap labor and other facilities the country has to offer. During my recent one-week stay in Bangladesh, I had the opportunity to visit some of the country’s major factories and Export Processing Zones (EPZ), where thousands of Bangladeshis work to make a living. With its population of over 160 million, the country suffers from high density and therefore unemployment. Yet, the Bangladeshi government makes efforts to reduce the unemployment by inviting more foreign investors. Between 2009 and 2017, Bangladeshis EPZs received more than $3 billion dollars in foreign investment, around 200 percent more than in the previous decade. During the same period, the country has also seen a staggering 245.68 percent growth in exports. For Bangladesh 2017 has been a mixed year of achievements and challenges. Though some macro indicators reflect the positive trends, the overall strength of the economy is weakening due to a number of developments toward the second half of the year. One of the major achievements of the economy has been a 7.28 percent economic growth in FY 2016-17 breaking the six percent cycle that continued for a decade or so. Like previous years, major boost of growth has come from the industrial sector followed by the services sector.
However, imports growing at a higher rate than exports led to a negative current account balance that continued during July-October of FY 2017-18. In FY 2016-17 remittance earning growth experienced a negative growth of (-)15.9 percent despite increase of manpower export. One important reason for low remittances despite high growth of manpower exports is the flow of remittances through informal channels. Strong Bangladeshi Taka against the US Dollar also played a role for low export and remittances growth to some extent. Though remittances have started to pick up in recent months it is not significant since it was negative during the last fiscal year. In 2017, the banking sector exposed further weaknesses through major indicators such as rise of non-performing loans, lower capital adequacy and the overall lack of governance in the sector. Though the period of BASEL III implementation is approaching in 2019, most banks are not prepared. The government has been recapitalising the state-owned banks for their loss every year without any fruition. This has been an unfortunate example of using public money towards compensating for the greed of bank defaulters. The proposed law allowing more members of the same family to be directors of the privately-owned banks and extension of their tenure are apprehended to further deteriorate the governance in private banks. Despite the central bank’s attempt to improve performance of the banking sector, improvements are not visible yet.
The independence of the central has been gradually diminishing due to political influence. Trial of Bangabandhu murder case and trial of jail killing of four national leaders have been completed. Verdict of Bangabandhu murder case is being implemented. Following the verdict of the Supreme Court and by 15th amendment, four principles of liberation war have been reinstated in the Constitution. Though there is dissimilarity, it will be eliminated in the process. The historic 7 March speech of Bangabandhu has been included in the record of UNESCO as a world documentary heritage and Bangabandhu is recognized as one of the great leaders of the world. Similarly, 21 February is now recognized as an international mother language day. Bengali nation is now in glorious position across the world. When the AL government came to power in 2009, energy sector was in bad shape. Now sixteen thousand megawatts capacity has been developed thanks to the government’s planned development of the sector. There are achievements in international field as well. Land boundary agreement with India has been implemented and maritime boundaries with India and Myanmar have been settled. The government is facing the Rohingya issue courageously and it is appreciated by the world. By sending Bangabandhu-I satellite Bangladesh has earned world honor. There are criticism about irregularities in share market, banking sector and money laundering, though it is not up to expectations but some steps have already been taken in this regard. For institutionalizing democracy some people are telling for discussion between AL and BNP to reduce gap.
But it is clear from the above discussion that though BNP got involved in some democratic process but later on didn’t follow minimum democratic norms. Those who are advising AL and BNP keeping them in the same level should remember that in the playground also some rules have to be followed, otherwise, first time by yellow card and then by red card, one has to leave the play ground for blunder.
In the same way, in the political field, political parties have to follow the democratic norms to continue the process of democracy. If we analyze the situation of USA, UK and France for several hundred years, we see they have followed the democratic norms for strengthening the democratic institutions.
Leaders of political parties of those countries have shown wisdom and farsightedness. Analyzing the situation of India, we find that India has become biggest democratic country in the world due to tolerance, democratic values and wisdom of political leaders and India has achieved a tremendous development in the different sectors. We hope that BNP and its alliance will realize it properly and they have to fight the verdict legally. If we could put pressure properly, situation would not be like this. From the above discussion it is evident that to strengthen democratic process and institutionalize democracy political parties should accept history-heritage and values of Liberation War. We hope that country must go ahead under the leadership of Bangabandhu’s daughter Sheikh Hasina.
>From a geo-political point, 2017 has been most challenging for Bangladesh as the Rohingyas from the Rakhine state of Myanmar started to flee to Bangladesh from August 25, 2017 onwards following a fresh round of torture and killings by the Myanmar army. Rohingyas moved into Bangladesh in thousands every day, bringing their number in Bangladesh to one million in total if the previous influx of the seventies and the nineties are taken into account. Though they are supported by the international community, some fiscal burden will befall the government of Bangladesh which will have budgetary implications. The year 2018 will be a turning point for Bangladesh in many ways. Bangladesh will prepare to graduate from the least developed country status in 2018. It will also continue its efforts toward becoming a middle-income country. Additionally, it will continue to implement the sustainable development goals (SDGs). These will hinge on a number of factors such as accelerated resource mobilisation, higher investment, efficiency in infrastructure implementation, skilled human resources and strong institutional set up. Lastly, Bangladesh has placed significant emphasis on the growth rate of its gross domestic product while the quality and distributional aspects of GDP growth have been overlooked. Incremental benefit from such growth has accrued to the rich rather than the poor. It is disturbing to note that top 10 percent possess 38 percent of Bangladesh’s total income while the bottom 10 percent only has one percent of the total income of the country.
High growth is yet to be translated into generation of enough income for the poor, creation of employment, access to quality education and better healthcare for all, and above all, reducing income inequality. In the coming years, policymakers must make broader development goals their objectives instead of being overwhelmed by narrow growth targets. The pharmaceuticals sector is another major source of income for Bangladesh, which is one of largest producers of generic drugs in the world. It meets more than 92 percent of the local market’s need and exports to more than 142 countries worldwide. In 2017, medicine exports brought almost $400 million to the country. The most prominent names in medicine production and export all have their own production and research facilities, making world-class drugs. Despite its dense population, the risk of contagious diseases, high unemployment, discernible poverty and lack of infrastructure, Bangladesh has made economic progress by becoming a center of production.
