Home ›› 27 Dec 2021 ›› Editorial
The year 2021 that coincides with the centenary birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Golden Jubilee celebration of independence would be illustrious on many counts in the annals of Bangladesh. The nation is also thrilled by the astounding development on many socio-economic fronts with profound achievements in the commanding heights of the economy. Once considered to be a basket case in the early days of independence, Bangladesh now exemplifies as a role model of development. Currently, CNN’s chronology of posters portrays economic achievement on many fronts. The country’s graduation to developing country status from the LCD’s domain manifests the tireless effort of the incumbent government in food and energy sufficiency. The achievements in socio-economic development through the UNDP’s sponsored Millennium Development Goals ( MDGs) initiated in 2000 and further with the launching of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2016 are commendable in comparison to neighboring countries. MDGs with 35 indicators and SDG with 231 unique indicators provide an exhaustive list of the directions where socio-economic development needs to be focused for inclusive development. The integration of the Seventh Five Year Plan (FY 2015/16 - Fy 2019/20) with the SDGs through a mapping document binding all ministries, divisions, and agencies for effective implementation manifests commitment of the government in this arduous task.
Among the seventeen SDG, 2030 goals; Goal 8 (promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all), Goal 10 (reduce inequality within and among countries), Goal 13 (take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts) and Goal 16 (promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective and inclusive institutions at all levels) are crucial and would contribute in fulfillment to other goals. Two other countries in the graduation process bracketed with Bangladesh, Nepal, and Laos get five years (two years exceptionally extended timeline) instead of three years in light of the economic and social upheaval caused by Covid-19. So, Bangladesh gets the developing country status in 2026, an upper-middle-income country (UMIC) status in 2031, and in the subsequent decade achieve high-income status by 2041.
The cardinal element in all these successive tiers of up-gradation is the soundness and resilience of institutions, the most important element of sustainability. The institutional soundness accelerates the growth process and substantially reduces the recuperation period in the development process when disease and destruction stymie the development scenario. The recently published Systematic Country Diagnostic 2021 Update (SCD) report by the World Bank on Bangladesh highlights the institutional weakness both through the qualitative and quantitative indicators. “For example, on the Worldwide Governance Indicators, Bangladesh lags not only UMIC averages but also the averages for lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) and for South Asia, across all categories.” So, the country needs to improve the overall quality of institutions, including their capacity, regulatory quality, and availability of formal institutions to create markets and make them contestable. The country scores relatively well on macroeconomic management and policies for social inclusion. However, a series of case studies divulges the supremacy of “deals” over formal industrial or (development) policymaking, weak state capacity, and ineffective regulation.
Institutional weakness is the breeding ground of corruption and corruption, in turn, erodes the effective functioning of the state that generates economic rent and accentuates inequality. Bangladesh is beset with the vices of economic rent; an amount of money earned through dubious ways that violate the accepted norm. One example is the trade-based illicit financial transfers as revealed by the Global Financial Integrity (GFI) in a recent study. The country lost a staggering USD 8.275 billion per year equivalent to over 17 per cent of the yearly international trade value through misinvoicing; one type of money laundering. The report was published previously in 2015 with time-series data from 2004 to 2013 but the report published in 2021 is devoid of data for the years 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018. GFI extrapolated the value on the basis of an average of 10 years but working on-trend on the year-to-year variation may yield a higher value in the subsequent years, the annual illicit outflow on account of misinvoicing could be higher than 12 billion. There are many ways illicit financial flows drain massive amounts of capital from the developing countries on a persistent and continuous basis that could be invested in generating growth. Unfortunately, reporting to the UN Comtrade for Bangladesh was dropped off in recent years.
Democracy can ensure sustained, inclusive and sustainable growth. Democracy flourishes with strong opposition parties in parliament. “We had every reason to expect that parliament would be a more representative, inclusive, and hence effective institution.” Unfortunately, successive parliaments have been rendered largely dysfunctional because of the confrontational relationships between our two major political parties. The ruling party has been reluctant to give the opposition adequate voice to register the manifold grievances and the opposition has spent a large part of the term boycotting parliaments. However, a lesson we could learn and practice from the bipartisan relationship in the democratic sanctity in the United States. Democracy with bigotry and mistrust devours inclusiveness in the process. We could not ensure an acceptable electoral process except the election conducted through a neutral caretaker government. “ Today, most candidates have to bring their own dowry to ensure nomination” and what we ultimately observe in the process is that one of the members of parliament is convicted of an offense in a foreign country. Political leverage appears to be a destiny for the country that is rampant in our political landscape. The institutional framework through which honesty, impartiality, and morality are cultivated in nation-states often see the devouring of those values in the net of political leverage.
The ordinary citizen of the country appreciates the current drive of the government in the reconstitution of the election commission under the helm of President Abdul Hamid, a distinguished politician with perfection and professionalism. We expect an acceptable electoral process through his guardianship and smooth and sound sailing with a functional parliament in the end.
The writer is the Treasurer and a Professor at the School of Business and Economics, United International University. He can be contacted at obaidur@eco.uiu.ac.bd
