The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a historic resolution to include Bangladesh in the list of developing countries from the category of Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted this resolution in its 76th session. The United Nations said in a statement on Wednesday that Bangladeshwould upgrade from the LDC category,
According to the United Nations Committee for Development Policy (CDP), there are currently 46 countries in the LDC category. According to the United Nations, to be classified as a developing country, the per capita income of a country should be 1230 US dollars. The newspaper ‘Daily Star’ quoted Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal as saying, “This is a historic milestone for the development journey of Bangladesh. It is a reflection of the progress of more than a decade. People from all walks of life are part of this success.” When Bangladesh was included in the LDC group in 1975 by the United Nations, the country’s poverty rate was 83 percent. The poverty rate has declined over the years and was 20.5 percent in 2019-20 before the COVID-19 pandemic.Bangladesh is now officially set to become a developing country in 2026 after a UN committee recommended that the country should get five years instead of three to prepare for the transition due to the impact of Covid-19 on its economy.
After gaining independence in 1971 under the leadership of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh has gone through many ups and downs but is now a stable, developing country. With the capable and dynamic leadership and extraordinary skills of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has reached this stage today.
Despite being a relatively smaller developing country, Bangladesh is moving forward in the areas of human resource, infrastructure, and technology development, expansion of foreign trade, foreign employment, strong market planning, development of agriculture, education and health sectors, gender equality, poverty reduction, life expectancy, increase in exports, industrialization, etc.
Besides, the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has undertaken the construction of ten megaprojects and 100 economic zones for the development of infrastructuresin the interest of economic development. It is hoped that the people of the country will be able to enjoy the benefits of all these megaprojects in a very short time. As a result, the pace of economic development of the country will be further accelerated. Megaprojects include Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project, Metrorail in Dhaka, Rail Link to Padma Bridge, Railway line from Dohazari to Cox’s Bazar via Ramu and Ghumghum via Ramu, Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, Matarbari Coal Power Station, LNG Terminal, Coal Mine Port, and Sonadia deep seaport construction project.
Apart from this, the establishment of 100 Economic Zones (EPZs) on 30,000 hectares of land by 2030 is in full swing. It may be mentioned that 20 percent of the total exports of the country are exported through Bangladesh Export Processing Zone (BEPZ). At present, BEPZA is making a significant contribution to the national economy through eight ongoing EPZs in Bangladesh. As per the decision of the government, construction work of four more EPZs has been undertaken at present. The project was adopted in 2017 under the direction of the Prime Minister, and the work of establishing ‘BEPZA Economic Zone’ on 1150 acres of land in MirsaraiUpazila of Chittagong district is nearing completion. Agreements will be made with domestic and foreign investors in a very short time for investments in this economic zone Considering the success of BEPZA, work has been undertaken to set up three new EPZs on the instructions of the Prime Minister. These three EPZs are currently under implementation. If a new BEPZA economic zone and 3 EPZs are implemented, the country’s total exports through BEPZA will increase further. There will be many employment opportunities.
According to the country’s GDP, Bangladesh is expected to move forward on the path of development. GDP is the total value of goods and services produced within a country at a given time (usually one year). The percentage of growth of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is defined as economic growth. Simply put, economic growth refers to the percentage of the increased share of GDP. GDP reflects the size and strength of a country’s economy. This is the universally accepted and widely accepted method of determining or determining economic potential or strength. In 2019, the GDP of Bangladesh was 317.465 million US dollars, in 2020 it stood at 860.917. In 2018 and 2019, the GDP growth rate was 8% and 7.9% respectively. In 2021, the probable rate is expected to be 9.5%. Bangladesh’s GDP growth comes mainly from five sectors. The sectors are manufacturing, wholesale-retail trade, transportation, construction, and agriculture. Approximately 67% of GDP depends on the five sectors mentioned in Bangladesh.
Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen remarked that in some cases, Bangladesh has had such astonishing success. Among these are education facilities, women empowerment, reduction of maternal and child mortality, provision of toilets and health facilities for the poor, and immunization of children.The country has shown great success in launching the fast-moving Bangabandhu Satellite-1 within 50 years of its formation to form ‘Digital Bangladesh’.
The broadcasting activities of the country are being enriched through the images and information obtained from Bangabandhu Satellite. The Government of Bangladesh has taken all steps to realise the dream of Digital Bangladesh. These include the introduction of e-documents, institutionalisation of government procurement process online, etc. E-payment and mobile banking have been introduced to make the service delivery process easy, transparent, and fast. In addition, one of the world’s largest national web portals has been created. All the Upazilas of the country have been brought under the Internet. All these successes are the result of digital development in Bangladesh.
In terms of economic development, Bangladesh’s export earnings have steadily increased in the last few years. Along with remittances, agricultural and industrial production has also increased. At the same time, infrastructural development has taken place. The employment and productivity of millions of people have increased at the marginal level. Bangladesh is currently the 36th country in the economic sense and the fifth fastest-growing country. By 2035, Bangladesh is expected to be the 25th largest economy in the world.
Everyone expects Bangladesh to be in a strong position in the world economy. Today, 50 years after its birth, devastated Bangladesh has become a country free from hunger and poverty with the help of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Bangabandhu. She is efficiently fulfilling all the responsibilities for realizing the dream of her father, the father of the nation.
