Bangladesh : Strategy for Sustained Growth, Volume 1. Summary Report
The premise of the report on a strategy for sustained growth is that Bangladesh, could join the ranks of middle-income countries (MICs) within a decade by 2016 or some time soon after. It has the necessary assets: much-improved economic fundamental...
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| Format: | General Economy, Macroeconomics and Growth Study |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/06/7959186/bangladesh-strategy-sustained-growth-vol-1-2-summary-report http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7765 |
| Summary: | The premise of the report on a strategy
for sustained growth is that Bangladesh, could join the
ranks of middle-income countries (MICs) within a decade by
2016 or some time soon after. It has the necessary assets:
much-improved economic fundamentals; success in implementing
many first-generation reforms; a young, rapidly growing
labor force; and an established entrepreneurial culture. To
pick up pace in the development marathon, Bangladesh will
need to deepen its industrial base, further its economic
integration with global markets, and unleash the growth
potentials of its major urban centers, Dhaka especially.
Reform measures essential to these objectives include
continuing macroeconomic stability, with emphasis on
strengthening tax mobilization and tackling energy sector
losses; deepening financial sector and external trade
reforms; and rebalancing the policy focus toward hitherto
neglected structural areas - economic governance, urban
management, infrastructure (especially power sector, ports,
and transportation), and labor skills - that are especially
important for strengthening factor productivity. Progress in
these and other areas can bring the kind of sustained, rapid
growth which the government has put at the center of its
poverty-reduction strategy. The report stresses that
economic growth has proven to be the most potent force in
the fight against poverty. Despite serious weaknesses in
governance, corruption most notably, Bangladesh has achieved
good growth since 1990. The study concludes that
Bangladesh's challenge is not to jumpstart growth but
to maintain and, to the extent possible, accelerate it. |
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