Bangladesh needs to maintain competitiveness in the global market by increasing productivity and reducing business costs by improving the quality of products to move the economy forward after its graduation from the status of least developed country (LDC) in 2026. For this, local businesses need to become more competitive at the international level so that the country can enjoy a smooth graduation, experts have said.
To do so, linkage industries should be encouraged alongside the establishment of special economic zones, active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) parks and fashion designing institutes. As we know our LDC graduation will bring a mixed set of new realities and the country will lose a wide variety of preferences and privileges in global trade. The duty-free benefits we now enjoy under the World Trade Organization (WTO) regime will no longer be effective and our exports will face new challenges, said experts at a webinar styled “LDC graduation: Challenges and Opportunities”, organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB).
From today, they said, Bangladesh needs to make the best use of the next five years towards smooth graduation, graduation with momentum and sustainable graduation. In doing so, it must address the graduation challenges in dealing with the adverse implications and successfully addressing COVID-related challenges plus implementing strategies in preparation for the post-LDC future. Problems like increased cost of business, corruption and business-unfriendly tax structure must be addressed.
Besides, all facilities, including bonded warehouses must be opened up for other sectors alongside the ready-made garment sector. The UN Committee for Development Policy (UN-CDP) after a five-day meeting in February recommended for Bangladesh to graduate from the LDC for the second time. The government needs to work hard for economic recovery from the fall out of the pandemic in the next few years. Problems like increased cost of business, corruption must be addressed to encourage FDI in the country for the development and welfare of citizens.
