Income discrimination widened in the country under the current social security system, which is not suitable to deal with this inequality, said Dr. Binayak Sen, director general of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).

He said this in a seminar organized on the occasion of 63 years of ICDDRB on Tuesday.

Dr Sen also said that inequality is increasing—generally speaking, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. But the nature of inequality in Bangladesh is somewhat different.

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According to him, the condition of both poor and rich people in the country has improved, but the rate of improvement of the rich people is higher.

Referring to the household survey 2022 he said that the Gini coefficient of consumption inequality at the national level in the country was 0.334; It was 0.356 in urban areas and 0.291 in rural areas.

“If the value of the Gini coefficient is zero, it means that there is ultimate equality in the society. 1 means there is ultimate inequality; Crossing 0.50 indicates high inequality in the country. That is, there is high inequality in the country now,” said Dr Sen.

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BIDS’ DG Dr Sen presented a keynote paper titled 'Poverty Trends and Determinants in Bangladesh: Insights from Recent Evidence' at the seminar.

He said the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have adversely affected the country's poverty situation. However, Bangladesh has made significant progress in reducing poverty in the last decade.

Dr Sen highlights the main causes of poverty and makes several policy proposals to overcome it.

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He recommended the implementation of those policy proposals in the short and medium term considering smart macroeconomic management, sustainable growth, efficient human resource development, and geo-economic conditions.

He displayed in the presentation that the tax-GDP ratio is decreasing despite the increase in government expenditure. In 2000-01, the tax-GDP ratio in the country was 8.5 percent. Then in the fiscal year 2010-11, the tax-GDP ratio was 10.4 percent, while the government expenditure as a proportion of GDP was 14.2 percent that year.

In FY 2020-21, the tax-GDP ratio was 9.96 percent, but the government expenditure-GDP ratio rose to 15.27 percent. Due to this, the spending capacity of the government is decreasing.

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Canadian High Commissioner in Bangladesh Lily Nichols was the chief guest at the seminar. ICDDRB officials and researchers among others, present in the seminar.