DESPITE improvements in labour, corruption, and monetary indicators, Bangladesh remains stuck in the category of “mostly unfree” countries in an international survey on economic freedom. The country’s economic freedom score is 53.9, making its economy the 131st freest — the same as last year’s — among 186 countries in the 2015 Index of Economic Freedom, an annual guide published yesterday by Washington-based Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal.Bangladesh was ranked 132nd in 2013 and 130th the previous year. Its position remains unchanged at 27 among 42 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The country’s overall score eroded by 0.2 points since last year though it made improvements in labour freedom, freedom from corruption, and monetary freedom outweighed by notable declines in investment freedom and business freedom.Modest score improvements have occurred in just four of the 10 economic freedoms (financial freedom, labour freedom, freedom from corruption, and trade freedom), and overall policy reform appears to have stalled. Lack of a national consensus on the direction of future policy changes has diminished the momentum for economic reforms, and deteriorating prospects for near-term improvements in economic freedom make it unlikely that the relatively high growth rates of recent years can be maintained.It is very easy to find out why we are not economically free. A general disregard for the rule of law, rampant corruption, and a judicial system that suffers from political interference provide a weak foundation for economic modernisation. And the root cause remains our happy go lucky attitude as individuals who don’t really care that much about being citizens of a country – we remain interested in filling our own pockets first. But this occurs unfortunately at the expense of the nation — we don’t care if we are government officials or private individuals, if we can cut corners and make money — we are happy, even if this impoverishes our nation.This strategy of protecting our own interests at the expense of the nation remain deeply embodied in our political and private cultures — it can be seen when we make fake ornaments to decorate our foreign friends who helped us during independence or when we destroy vehicles and human lives with petrol bombs – the end result remains the same. Our apathy to do anything constructive for the nation, our ignorance to any other interests beside ours — these remain at the root cause of why we can not, forty three years after independence, yet call ourselves economically free. Political and cultural freedoms mean little when we go to bed burnt or on an empty stomach.
