More evidence-based studies are required for identifying and choosing the effective ways for development and sustainable economic growth, development experts told a dialogue in the city on Tuesday.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bangladesh hosted a policy dialogue on “Challenges of Political Development and Sustainable Growth” at its office in the city.
Academic, experts, representatives of civil society and development partners participated in the dialogue where advisor to the Prime Minister HT Imam was the chief guest.
The participants of the dialogue discussed on the findings of a recently finalized empirical study by the prominent economist Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman of the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC), titled “Politics, Governance and Middle Income Aspirations: Realities and Challenges”.
The study considered political climate, governance and economic performance as factors affecting citizens’ perceptions of governance issues such as security, bribe and trust; and how these affect aspirations for economic growth.
H.T Imam said the study is comprehensive and highlighted many issues those are important for attaining social development and economic growth.
The country, he said, had been progressing in many sectors like agriculture, social safety-net and digitization. “But quality of education remains a challenge. Democracy and the rule of law are important to achieve our overall development goals,” the adviser noted.
UNDP Country Director Ms Pauline Tamesis said ensuring a balance between development and democracy is possible with solid evidence-based studies.
She said the SDGs would be a key anchor in moving forward this discussion while the PPRC study is just the starting point.
UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Robert Watkins said UNDP commissioned this study in 2015 to examine the impact of governance on economic development. The goal is clear but the path remains a challenge.
“Bangladesh cannot ignore the cost of economic underperformance,” Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman said, pointing out that even maintaining a status quo would hinder Bangladesh’s middle income aspiration.
