Home ›› 22 Jul 2022 ›› Opinion
The South Asian island nation of Sri Lanka is facing the worst economic and political crisis in its history. It is very unfortunate that some people are comparing Bangladesh with Sri Lanka. Bangladesh is far removed from Sri Lanka. There is nothing more disconcerting than comparing Bangladesh with Sri Lanka.
We do not foresee any Sri Lanka-like situation in Bangladesh as Bangladesh is a country which has done ‘extremely well’ in terms of debt management with careful borrowing. Bangladesh is currently the 41st largest economy in the world. There is no reason to think that the economic condition of Bangladesh will become like that of Sri Lanka.
The fact that Bangladesh is now ranked second in South Asia and 41st overall in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is positive. The ranking was revealed in a study released by the Canadian news organization Visual Capitalist. There is only one higher GDP in South Asia, India.
It hardly needs emphasizing how effective the government’s current policies have been in fostering the nation’s economic growth over the past several years. The government’s numerous initiatives have caused the pace of the nation’s remittance inflow to noticeably accelerate during the past several years.
The growth rate of the GDP, one of the primary macroeconomic indicators for the nation, has also markedly increased, and Bangladesh has set a goal of achieving 8.51 per cent GDP growth by 2025.
Compared to Sri Lanka’s political and economic crisis, many intellectuals of our country are storming the discussion table- will the situation of Bangladesh be like Sri Lanka or not? We have to remember that the political, economic and especially geopolitical reality of almost every country is different and the development model of every country is not the same. The economic reality of the Padma Bridge, one of the biggest projects ever in Bangladesh, is certainly not the same as the construction of airports, seaports or flyovers in Sri Lanka. Be that as it may, instead of re-entering the debate on whether Bangladesh will ever become Sri Lanka or not, we should instead look at what lessons Third World countries can learn from Sri Lanka’s current situation.
According to updated data from the International Monetary Fund, Bangladesh now has the world’s 41st largest economy (IMF). Only two South Asian nations—Bangladesh and India—ranked among the top 50 economies in the world.
The world economy’s $100 trillion was generated by the 50 largest economies, according to a number that has been visually represented and published by the Visual Capitalist using data from the IMF.
Bangladesh climbed one spot from 42nd in 2021 to 41st position this year, despite the fact that India’s status as the sixth-largest global economy remained unchanged from the previous year.
Bangladesh’s gross domestic product (GDP) decreased from $400 billion to $397 billion this year, representing 0.4 percent of the world GDP.
But statistics for other South Asian countries such as Pakistan and Sri Lanka were unavailable as they did not make the top 50 list.
As an emerging economic power Bangladesh has already made it mark in the world stage. This is undoubtedly a matter of pride for us. But we must not forget that even after half a century of independence, our problems and crises are not over.
Even though Bangladesh has been affected by the impact of the pandemic like other countries, the country has shown great success in handling it. However, due to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war, the price of food grains and fuel is increasing in the world market and as a result, inflation is increasing due to growing import costs, and more crises await us. The policy makers of the country need to think about these issues and take far-sighted decisions in view of reality. Thankfully, the policy makers of our country have a good relationship with reality.
Even though the most recent news is encouraging, the inclusiveness issue must be addressed. Growth cannot be disregarded. We have previously expressed our satisfaction with the steadfast progress that our economy has experienced over the past ten years. There is no doubt that the nation is cruising along the growth highway, but there is a disturbing aspect to this positive picture as well.
Even while the most recent development is positive, the issue of inclusive growth cannot be disregarded. Over the past ten years, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened and the promised benefits of the strong growth have not yet reached the majority of people. Wealth disparity between the rich and the poor has been on the rise for some time. According to estimates, less than 10 per cent of the population as a whole owns more than the other 90 per cent. Therefore, the government must take steps to create more jobs in both the public and private sectors in order to preserve the nation’s economic growth and make it more inclusive.
Bangladesh presently ranks as the world’s 41st largest economy as we work tirelessly to realize our country’s potential as an economic powerhouse.
It demonstrates the efficacy of our policies and the resiliency of the Bangladeshi people that we can maintain our growth despite dealing with the catastrophic impacts of a worldwide epidemic and local as well as global difficulties.
Of course, there are things we could do better. While we have improved in terms of comparative position, we have actually slipped in terms of raw numbers. Our GDP output for this year is $397 billion, down from $400 billion in 2017.
A deficit of this magnitude was inevitable given the current state of the world economy, especially in light of the fact that foreign customers are withdrawing many of the orders they had committed to placing with our RMG plants.
We need to concentrate more on diversity for this specific reason. Since the beginning of time, the RMG sector has served as the foundation of our economy. Recent local and international events demonstrate how quickly problems can arise when a single sector is overly dependent. Another factor contributing to these shortfalls is the damage the Russian invasion of Ukraine has done to the world oil market.
All of these problems indicate that increasing domestic manufacturing and reducing reliance on imports is the best course of action.
In the upcoming years, this is the path we must go. Bangladesh has made outstanding progress toward achieving self-reliance in several areas. While the Padma Bridge is already finished, we already have massive projects like the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant planned.
We may reduce our imports and concentrate on expanding them if we continue to concentrate on producing the majority of our commodities domestically. We won’t be able to be stopped once that occurs. We look forward to that day.
The writer is a freelance contributor. She can be contacted at mehjabinbhanu1579@gmail.com
