BANGLADESH should defer the LDC graduation process considering the adverse impact of Covid-19 pandemic that has already turned the economy upside down, economists and business leaders said on Saturday. They said the policymakers should instead engage in the ongoing lobbying for further extension of the existing trade benefits that Bangladesh now enjoys as a least-developed country. The suggestions came at a virtual dialogue on “International Trade in Covid Times: Impact and Way Forward for Bangladesh.”
Unfortunately this is a very bad idea. Deferring the LDC graduation process is akin to a man postponing physical rehabilitation so he can continue begging. For ultimately that is what we are asking from the developed countries — to please have mercy on us as we continue to remain poor.
Such ad hoc policies are going to take the country to a downward slope. We have witnessed their effects on the economic and health sectors — subsidies have been given on an ad hoc basis to favoured industries like RMG while it has left many other industries like stepchildren. On the health front too we have seen that the introduction of fees for tests has slowed down testing by over fifty per cent — thus aggravating the danger to the nation — at a time when we need the information about patients the most.
That means making our electricity costs lower and their distribution more reliable. That means improving the physical infrastructure of our ports to ensure that lead times are shorter. That means reducing the corruption in the banking sector so that loans don’t have to be taken by paying bribes. That means ensuring that our workers in RMG are paid more so that they can be more productive and efficient. We can negotiate deals with the EU to ensure that we have the same zero tariffs enjoyed by Vietnam.
Investors won’t invest in RMG in Bangladesh unless they see these events occurring. Cheap land labour by itself won’t cut it. For it is ultimately dynamic efficiencies such as these which will enable us to capture the RMG sector. Right now many factories are leaving China while China itself has given us zero trade benefits with some conditions. We must make the most of it — chances like these don’t exist forever.
Bangladesh needs, more than anything else, competent people in the government. Sycophants are good at robbing and they have done that to the best of their ability.
