Amid Covid 19 pandemic and a bruised global economy, Bangladesh, which has seen an export oriented growth, needs to now diversify its basket for outbound shipment, a World Bank report said.
The private sector, which already accounts for more than 70 per cent of all investments in Bangladesh, supported by a strong financial sector. This will have to play a bigger role in spurring the recovery in the post Covid 19 phase. An analyst said that the same formula needs to be applied in India too as new challenges and opportunities come up in the post Covid world.
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The International Finance Corporation (IFC), in a statement also said that Bangladesh needs to embark on a new round of reforms to strengthen and modernize the private sector in a bid to unleash the country's potential to drive diversified, export-led growth and create jobs.
"The pandemic has hit Bangladesh hard and as the country recovers from COVID-19, the need for reforms will become even more compelling. Finding new sources of income and growth will be an urgent priority," Alfonso Garcia Mora, IFC's Vice President Asia and Pacific said.
The ready-made garment (RMG) sector in the South Asian country alone has created more than 4 million jobs. Thousands of women have also been employed in this sector. Along with this a strong inflow of remittances and prudent government policy choices Bangladesh managed to witness resilient growth, even during the pandemic outbreak.
For the last 10 years, the country’s economy has been growing at over 6 per cent. In 2019, it even touched 8.1 per cent. By 2026, Bangladesh, which is set to play a crucial role in India’s Act East policy, will move out of the United Nation's Least Developed Countries (LDC) list. A steady, stable and developing Bangladesh is a boon for India as the two countries share a 4,096-kilometre-long international border.
