Experts have said that a technology and environment-friendly economic base should be built to tackle the big challenges for the coming days, including creating a transition strategy from LDC, mitigating the recession’s effects, creating jobs and increasing export earnings.
Economists and researchers made the observation during a seminar, titled “Resilient and Resurgent Bangladesh: Sustaining Economic Growth in a Changing Climate,” at Hotel InterContinental in Dhaka on Wednesday.
They said there is a long way to go to restore macroeconomic stability as stagnant employment opportunities remains the main challenge of the country’s economy and the technology sector’s potential is also not being utilised properly.
Policy Research Institute Executive director Ahsan H Mansur said that although progress have been made in many economic areas, including savings and investment, in the last five decades, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war on the economy is still lingering.
Impacts of these two are gradually reducing but the economy is yet to return to normality and one of the major reasons behind that is the government’s internal policy structure. Various impasses such as export dependency on a single product and sending manpower without skills abroad have also been going on for a long time, he said.
Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Executive member Mohsina Yasmin said the country’s economy capable enough to deal with the existing situation. BIDA has been providing sufficient support to increase investment and employment in the country. Investors are now getting services more easily than before.
Mentioning there is excessive dependency on single product export, International Growth Centre (IGC) Executive Director Jonathan Leape said that Bangladesh needs to increase product diversification, productivity and improve skill development. The country needs more human capital and huge policy improvement investment to increase skilled manpower.
IGC policy Advisor and Policy Exchange Chairman Dr Masrur Reaz said that technology and environment-friendly employment opportunities will increase in the coming days. Globally, these two sectors will create 7 billion jobs by 2030. “If we can get 5 per cent share of this, it will be very beneficial for Bangladesh.”
Research and Policy Integration for Development Chairman MA Razzaque said the tax-GDP ratio of the country is very low and inequality remains high even as revenue increases. In the coming days, for LDC transition, tax-GDP ratio will have to increase and inequality has to reduce.
