Economic Reporter :
The Unnayan Onneshan (UO), an independent multidisciplinary think tank stated that the sluggish trend in private investment, declining growth in revenue collection and underperformance in external sector are hindering the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of the country.
The organization recently published the research report. Unnayan Onneshan (UO) in its half yearly assessment of the economy for FY 2015-16 stated that improvement in three basic dimensions of development long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and decent standard of living has not moved upward compared to those of other developing nations, as reflected in the Human Development Report 2015 due to unsatisfactory trends in these major macroeconomic indicators.
The Unnayan Onneshan exhibited that the private investment as percentage of GDP increased by only 0.27 percent on average since FY 2008-09. Private investment stood 21.87, 21.56, 22.14, 22.50, 21.75, 22.03, and 22.07 percent of GDP in FY 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, and 2014-15 respectively. The stagnation in private investment stems from absence of adequate infrastructure and business confidence due to political uncertainty.
Unnayan Onneshan also points out that that structural bottlenecks in the forms of income inequality together with inequality in access to health and education, multidimensional poverty, and joblessness particularly among the youth are likely to put additional pressures on the progress of the economy.
It says private investment as percentage of GDP increased by only 0.27 percent on average since FY 2008-09.
Referring to the increasing amount of illicit financial flow from Bangladesh, the research organization warned that national savings, which have been declining since FY 2012-13, may further decline in the current fiscal year, and the targets of increasing private investment to 24 percent and public investment to 7.8 percent are unlikely to be achieved.
As regards the low Annual Development Programme (ADP) implementation, the UO says public investment has not been successful to create any multiplier effect in the economy because of institutional inefficiency, which results in poor quality of investment.
Ealier, The Unnayan Onneshan in its post- budget issue of monthly Bangladesh Economic Update reveals that declining allocation for health and education is likely to hinder the achievement of the country’s development targets.
The UO in its monthly publication notes that expenditure on health and education in Bangladesh is quite low vis-à-vis other developing countries. Allocation for non-development expenditure on both sectors comprises the large portion of the total allocation resulting in inadequate allocation for development expenditure. In addition, poor implementation status of Annual Development Programme (ADP) in the Ministry of Health and Family Planning and the Ministry of Education poses challenge to the development of these two sectors.
In view of the current challenges in the development of health and education sectors, the think tank finds three major issues that characterize the two sectors. These are structural inequality emanating from socioeconomic differentials, lack of universal coverage in the provision of social services, and social inequality due to citizens’ lack of access to social services.
The research organisation says that Bangladesh lags behind other developing countries in accumulating public spending adequately to provide its citizens with necessary social services while the allocations for social sectors, particularly education and health, as percentage of total programme expenditure have been on the decline in recent years.
The Unnayan Onneshan (UO), an independent multidisciplinary think tank stated that the sluggish trend in private investment, declining growth in revenue collection and underperformance in external sector are hindering the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of the country.
The organization recently published the research report. Unnayan Onneshan (UO) in its half yearly assessment of the economy for FY 2015-16 stated that improvement in three basic dimensions of development long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and decent standard of living has not moved upward compared to those of other developing nations, as reflected in the Human Development Report 2015 due to unsatisfactory trends in these major macroeconomic indicators.
The Unnayan Onneshan exhibited that the private investment as percentage of GDP increased by only 0.27 percent on average since FY 2008-09. Private investment stood 21.87, 21.56, 22.14, 22.50, 21.75, 22.03, and 22.07 percent of GDP in FY 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, and 2014-15 respectively. The stagnation in private investment stems from absence of adequate infrastructure and business confidence due to political uncertainty.
Unnayan Onneshan also points out that that structural bottlenecks in the forms of income inequality together with inequality in access to health and education, multidimensional poverty, and joblessness particularly among the youth are likely to put additional pressures on the progress of the economy.
It says private investment as percentage of GDP increased by only 0.27 percent on average since FY 2008-09.
Referring to the increasing amount of illicit financial flow from Bangladesh, the research organization warned that national savings, which have been declining since FY 2012-13, may further decline in the current fiscal year, and the targets of increasing private investment to 24 percent and public investment to 7.8 percent are unlikely to be achieved.
As regards the low Annual Development Programme (ADP) implementation, the UO says public investment has not been successful to create any multiplier effect in the economy because of institutional inefficiency, which results in poor quality of investment.
Ealier, The Unnayan Onneshan in its post- budget issue of monthly Bangladesh Economic Update reveals that declining allocation for health and education is likely to hinder the achievement of the country’s development targets.
The UO in its monthly publication notes that expenditure on health and education in Bangladesh is quite low vis-à-vis other developing countries. Allocation for non-development expenditure on both sectors comprises the large portion of the total allocation resulting in inadequate allocation for development expenditure. In addition, poor implementation status of Annual Development Programme (ADP) in the Ministry of Health and Family Planning and the Ministry of Education poses challenge to the development of these two sectors.
In view of the current challenges in the development of health and education sectors, the think tank finds three major issues that characterize the two sectors. These are structural inequality emanating from socioeconomic differentials, lack of universal coverage in the provision of social services, and social inequality due to citizens’ lack of access to social services.
The research organisation says that Bangladesh lags behind other developing countries in accumulating public spending adequately to provide its citizens with necessary social services while the allocations for social sectors, particularly education and health, as percentage of total programme expenditure have been on the decline in recent years.
