ACCORDING to a Planning Commission report, Bangladesh will lose $7 billion in export earnings every year once it graduates into the developing country bracket in 2027 as the trade benefits it currently enjoys will be phased out then. Bangladesh as a least-developed country currently enjoys zero-duty benefits on its shipments to the European Union, Canada, Australia and many other countries. These benefits will be lifted upon LDC graduation and replaced with tariffs. As a result, it would erode the price competitiveness of Bangladesh’s products in the global market. The amount would balloon to $13 billion by 2031.
The report titled ‘Impact Assessment and Coping up Strategies of Graduation from LDC Status for Bangladesh’ was scheduled to place at a meeting of the National Taskforce to implement the roadmap for graduation yesterday. The loss in export earnings, however, could be averted if Bangladesh manages to negotiate bilateral trade deals with nations.
It was a glorious moment in Bangladesh’s history when the UN last year declared the country eligible to step up to a developing economy from being a Least Developed Country. It’s due to take effect in 2024 with a grace period of three years to wean off the special dispensations of the LDC status.
Usually, economic graduation is a continuous process. For it, the work preparations should begin for at least a couple of decades earlier. Particularly for Bangladesh, the country has steadied its economic direction and showed excellent performance with its market economy orientation since the early nineties. Besides, the consistent five-percent-plus economic growth over the last three decades combined with booming apparel exports and massive development have paved the way for Bangladesh to steadily distance itself from other LDCs in terms of economic performance.
Getting honourable position in any field is difficult. But it’s more difficult to stay in honour ultimately without any embarrassment. We actually don’t have sufficient information whether Bangladesh has such capability to maintain the developing country’s status losing all trade benefits those are enjoying now. We must say, false and fabricated economic data of artificial development won’t help here. It needs a long-term sustainable economic policy to overcome the situation.
