Experts at a virtual dialogue on Friday (June 26) discussed ways to convert the current challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic into opportunities through proper recovery measures keeping Bangladesh on the right track of development.
They said Bangladesh must pursue it as there would be sunshine amid clouds that the Covid-19 brought which is truly a global catastrophe.
Cosmos Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Cosmos Group, organised the webinar as part of Cosmos Dialogue, titled “Impact of Covid-19 on Bangladesh: Prognosis for Recovery" connecting experts from home and abroad virtually.
Chairman of Cosmos Foundation Enayetullah Khan delivered the welcome speech at the webinar chaired by Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, the Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, and former Foreign Affairs Adviser to Bangladesh’s previous caretaker government.
Prominent economist and Chairman of Policy Research Institute (PRI) Dr Zaidi Sattar talked about the macroeconomic impact of Covid-19 on Bangladesh and prognosis for recovery.
Prof Haider Khan, John Evans Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Denver, highlighted the geopolitical implications of Covid-19 and challenges for Bangladesh.
Muhammed Aziz Khan, founder and Chairman of Summit Power International Limited, Summit Holdings Ltd and IPCO Developments (Bangladesh) Limited, talked about the impact of Covid-19 on infrastructures in Bangladesh.
Executive Director, Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) and former adviser to a previous caretaker government, Rasheda K Choudhury spoke with focus on the impact of Covid-19 on women and education in Bangladesh and its recovery plans.
President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Dr Rubana Huq discussed the impact of Covid-19 on the readymade garment sector in Bangladesh.
Cosmos Foundation Executive Director Nahar Khan delivered the concluding remarks.
Gradual Recovery
"The catastrophe is truly global. This is a hill we’ll have to climb," said Dr Iftekhar adding that the recovery will be there gradually.
He laid emphasis on converting the challenges to opportunities through joint efforts.
Dr Zaidi Sattar said it is pandemic globally not epidemic and the government of Bangladesh was very quick to respond without wasting any time.
He highlighted the impact on the Bangladesh economy as Bangladesh economy is well integrated with the global economy.
The economist said there will be need for more fiscal resources and cash transfers as many people will need them. "Policymakers are trying their best."
Talking about recovery, he said it needs to be seen what is going on externally and domestically and mentioned that economic recovery cannot happen with imbalance incentives.
Zaidi Sattar laid emphasis on export diversification, more investment and ensuring balanced incentives for the relevant sectors.
Dr Rubana said it was almost like a nightmare and for them it was a critical journey when they saw RMG exports orders worth over US$ 3.15 billion were cancelled or held up.
Responding to a question, she said they have negotiated almost 48 percent of the cancelled orders to be reinstated but the payment terms are still vague.
Digital Divide
Dr Rasheda highlighted the educational deficit between Bangladesh and other countries citing UN statistics nothing that digital divide has to be minimised.
"It needs a comprehensive recovery plan. There has to be investment. We have to minimise digital divide," she said.
She said globally 1.2 billion learners are still out of educational institution and developed countries have reached to those among their own populations but in Bangladesh 40 million students, ranging from pre-primary to higher education level, are yet to be reached by the government.
Dr Rasheda noted that the government has been trying four methods to reduce learning loss after the closure of educational institutes due to Covid-19 pandemic – televised lesson, online classes, radio broadcast and through mobile devices. "(Despite the effort) we’ve not been able to reach a large number of vulnerable student groups including women and ethnic minorities."
She warned that Bangladesh may face five consequences as a result of the lacking in educational activities.
"There’ll be large scale dropouts, increase in child labour, increase in early marriage which will consequently increase early pregnancy and malnutrition," she said.
The CAMPE Director said girls will be hard hit all the time due to the pandemic and gender based violence inside home will increase as well.
Dr Rasheda mentioned that in order to repel these consequences, experts have been proposing formation of a Covid-19 response and recovery team solely for education sector.
Social safety net programmes should be introduced on a larger scale for education sector such as school meal programme to deal with malnutrition, she said.
She condemned lack in policymaking highlighting that teachers are not being included in any type of recovery plans.
"We've talked about recovering many sectors but teachers are not part of it, and they are being ignored. At one point we’ve to open schools but will the teachers, students and parents be ready?" she said adding that a comprehensive solution is needed to tackle these issues.
She also noted that now is the proper opportunity to use the digital modes to develop skills and reskill Bangladeshi youth.
"However, the majority of them might not get the chance because of the costs. There have to be investments made in skilling, reskilling and human capability enhancement ... we can deal with economic crisis, but if we lose one generation of learners that will be a huge disaster," she added.
Dr Rasheda highlighted that country's SME sector is in grave danger because most of the workforce here are women who have been hit the hardest by the pandemic.
Enayetullah Khan said they see a simultaneous disruption both supply and demand chains.
The world, in the post-Covid-19 era, will be different one and the recovery will come in different ways.
Nahar Khan said as they can perceive, Covid-19 will remain a continuing challenge which will require a continuing response.
She said the Cosmos Foundation will host several such virtual discussions as part of a series focused on this issue.
