economic growth
“Bangladesh, Vietnam to work together to achieve higher economic growth”
Vietnamese Ambassador to Bangladesh Pham Viet Chien has pledged that his country will continue to work together with Bangladesh to achieve higher economic growth in line with the development goals of the two countries.
“I strongly believe Viet Nam and Bangladesh will maintain a higher economic growth and keep moving towards realizing the targets to be upper middle-income countries in 2030 and then developed high-income countries in the early 2040,” he said.
The ambassador, while speaking at the 77th Vietnamese National Day reception at a city hotel on Friday night, said the two countries will continue to cooperate in living up to the dreams of the Fathers of Nations - Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh.
He mentioned that as same as the 2030 and 2041 visions of the government of Bangladesh, the National Congress of the Communist Party of Viet Nam set the national development goals for 2030 and 2045.
The envoy said Viet Nam has been and will always be a friend, reliable partner and a responsible member of the international community.
“The government of Viet Nam hopes to join hands with Bangladesh and other countries to address traditional and non-traditional security challenges, to work towards a peaceful world of more sustained, inclusive and humanistic development,” he said.
Agriculture Minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque spoke as the chief guest at the reception attended by politicians, diplomats, business leaders and cultural activists.
Razzaque laid emphasis on enhancing trade and investment relations between the two countries and sought market access of diversified products to Viet Nam from Bangladesh.
Read: Declaration of Independence – Will, aspirations of Vietnamese people
Digitalisation helped B’desh retain economic growth despite pandemic: Joy
Despite the Covid-induced disruptions in the global labor market with millions of job losses, Bangladesh managed to prevent employment shrinkage and retain its growth levels owing to its rapid digitalisation, said Prime Minister's ICT Advisor Sajeeb Wazed Joy.
He made this observation in an article, carried by The Washington Times headlined 'Digital leaps helped Bangladesh navigate the pandemic'.
"Many industries and governments are struggling to adapt. But in Bangladesh, a government plan to modernize and digitize its economy, education sector, and health care has provided some answers," he observed.
Also read:Bangladesh has no strong opposition due to conspiracies of dictators: Joy
Reflecting on benefits of the country's digital transformation, Joy said, "The Digital Bangladesh initiative, which started to be implemented 2009, quickly increased internet access and paved the way for multifaceted economic development. In short order, Digital Bangladesh replaced slow, paper-based government services with easy-to-use internet and smartphone-based programs."
"The plan worked. The government created a network of more than 8,500 Digital Centers that provided online services from cradle to grave. In 2008, those services were all but inaccessible; only 800,000 people in Bangladesh had access to the internet. Now, Bangladesh boasts more than 120,000,000 internet users. The internet covers 98% of the country," he added.
Referring to a gamut of government initiatives in the virtual sphere, including 86000 digital classrooms and training for 1.5 million students in information and communications technology (ICT), he mentioned that information technology exports have soared from about $25 million in 2008 to $2 billion in 2021.
"Indeed, freelancing is booming in Bangladesh. The country is the world’s second-largest supplier of online freelancers. According to a survey conducted by the Centre for Policy Dialogue, 50,000 Facebook-based entrepreneurs live in Bangladesh. With about 43 million Facebook accounts in Bangladesh, the platform provides business opportunities on a broad scale. It also proved to be a resilient employment model during the pandemic as work shifted away from an in-person office environment," he further said.
Also read:History says religion card cannot be played on Bengali people for long: Joy
Appreciating the government initiative to launch Bangabandhu-I satellite, he remarked that Bangladesh’s first geostationary communication satellite, Bangabandhu-1, has accelerated digital work. The satellite, which was launched in 2018, extends Bangladesh’s internet coverage to its remotest regions, allowing even rural Bangladeshis to receive telemedicine support, e-learning, and e-banking.
"Freelance jobs include computer programming, web design, tax preparation, search engine optimization, and marketing. Asia has become the number-one region for providing outsourcing services to the rest of the world," he added.
Bangladesh’s youthful population (nearly 65% are under the age of 25) is well-positioned to take advantage of Digital Bangladesh and the new types of employment it affords. Bangladesh retooled its educational system and now graduates 500,000 digital workers annually, Joy further said.
"The fruit borne by Digital Bangladesh ripened at just the right time to address the economic ravages of COVID-19. As the world was still trying to figure out what the new workplace looked like, Bangladesh provided a model because of its rapid digitization and the transition to remote work that it enabled," he concluded.
World Bank loan to bolster Bangladesh's economic growth
Bangladesh and the World Bank have signed a $250 million financing agreement to support the country’s reform efforts to sustain growth following the pandemic and to enhance resilience to future shocks, including climate change.
The Bangladesh First Recovery and Resilience Development Policy Credit — the first in a series of two credits — will help Bangladesh build a stronger fiscal and financial sector to sustain growth, the World Bank said in a release.
The credit is from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), which provides concessional financing, has a 30-year term, including a five-year grace period.
It will help streamline the bank recovery framework with all scheduled banks to update recovery plans annually.
Read: Deal signed with World Bank for $250 million towards post-pandemic recovery
The programme supports the legislative framework on payments, which will contribute to a more efficient financial system.
The programme supports adjustments to the interest rates of public savings instruments such as the National Savings Certificate.
Mercy Tembon, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan, said that Bangladesh has made a robust economic recovery from the pandemic.
“This programme will further support the government’s policies to make the economy more resilient and competitive as Bangladesh strives to become an upper-middle income country by 2031.”
The cancellation of 8,451 MW of investments in coal-fired electricity generation projects will accelerate the country’s transition to decarbonisation and a green economy.
The revised National Building Code will help the country reduce greenhouse gas emissions by improving energy efficiency in buildings.
Read: World Bank projects Ukraine's economy to shrink by 45 pct this year
The programme will support the National Tariff Policy to modernise taxes and foster a globally competitive export industry. It will help to better leverage digital technologies and enable non-resident firms to submit VAT returns, according to the World Bank.
The increased coverage of the electronic government (e-GP) system will improve efficiency of public procurement.
It will also support the coverage, speed, and efficiency of social protection programmes to help the government rapidly respond to extreme climate events such as floods and cyclones.
By using the government-to-person payment platform for cash transfers, the government can identify new and existing beneficiaries for emergency assistance while also capturing gender-disaggregated payment data.
Bangladesh economy to grow by 6.9% in FY2021-22, says ADB
Bangladesh’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow by 6.9 per cent in the running FY2021-22, according to an Asian Development Bank report released on Wednesday.
The bank’s Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2022 said the growth forecast reflects rebound in external trade and recovery in domestic economic activities fuelled by implementation of stimulus packages and increased remittance.
Inflation is expected to increase to 6.0 per cent in FY2022 from 5.6 per cent in 2021, it said.
The current account deficit is likely to widen from 0.9 per cent of GDP in FY 2021 to 2.7 per cent of GDP in FY2022 on increase in imports and decline in remittance growth.
Read: ADB to provide $143 million to Bangladesh
The main risk to this growth projection is higher prices for oil and imports, and the loss of export sales beyond those built in the present forecasts, mainly due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“The ongoing socio-economic recovery need to be accelerated by enhancing domestic resource mobilization, incentivizing the private sector to create products and services, promoting modern green technologies, and fostering knowledge and innovation,” said ADB Country Director Edimon Ginting.
“Building climate resilient infrastructure and services, introducing carbon tax on fossil fuels, and promoting green investments will help to further advance the current policy initiatives for managing climate change for inclusive and sustainable green growth,” Ginting added.
The report said that private investment will get stronger, reflecting a solid growth in private sector credit and imports of industrial raw materials and capital goods.
With large available funding, public investment will increase to support the implementation of priority large infrastructure projects. Growth in private consumption, however, may be affected by a decline in remittances.
Read: Finance minister thanks ADB for prompt assistance in tackling pandemic
Inflation is expected to reach 6.0 per cent in FY2022 from 5.6 per cent in FY2021 as price pressures are increasing from upward adjustment in domestic administered fuel prices, rising global food and fuel prices, and implementation of stimulus measures.
The report pointed out that managing climate change is critical to ensure inclusive and environmentally sustainable growth. As part of developing national adaptation plan by the government, a climate risk–informed master plan should be drawn up for each sector and development unit.
Capacity for better accessing and utilizing climate risk analysis needs to be mainstreamed in public financial management decisions across government.
Enabling policies are necessary for green investments, the development and adoption of green technologies, and for greening of existing industries, said the report.
NBR goes all-out to boost tax revenue for better economic growth
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has intensified its tax survey, inspection, monitoring and realisation to boost the Tax GDP ratio, currently the lowest in the South Asian region.
The poor situation exists although NBR has recently witnessed a 9.51 per cent growth in individual income tax return submission.“The Board has already directed all the field offices to intensify and strengthen their respective tax survey to have a justified growth with other wings,” a senior official of the NBR told UNB wishing anonymity.He said that the Board has also directed the field offices to give extra efforts for collecting advance income tax, which is a good source of collection.
Also read: Whitening black money: Stock exchanges ask NBR to continue it in stock marketThe revenue target for the NBR for FY2021-22 has been fixed at 10.7 per cent, higher than the revised target of the FY2020-21. The revenue collection was set at Tk 330,078 crore during FY2021-22.In the last FY2020-21 the revised revenue target was Tk 301,000 crore while it was set Tk 330,000 in the main budget.Of the total target the VAT wing will contribute the lion share with Tk 127,745 crore which is 11 per cent higher than the revised target of the last fiscal. In the last fiscal the target was Tk 125, 163 crore.The target for Income Tax and Tax on Profit has been set Tk 104, 952 crore where it was Tk 103, 945 crore in the last fiscal.
Also read: Even government entities press NBR for tax exemption: NBR ChairmanThe revenue collection from import duty will be Tk 37, 907 crore, Tk 54,465 crore from from Supplementary Duty, Tk 56 crore from export duty, Tk 3825 crore from Excise Duty while Tk 1050 crore from other taxes and duties.As part of intensifying the tax survey information of the flat and house owners in posh areas like Gulshan, Banani, Uttara, Dhanmondi of the capital city will be gathered.The eligible but not enlisted persons will be given electronic tax identification number (e-TIN) instantly. “Proper directives have been given to the field level officials,” the NBR official said.Punitive measures will be taken against the e-TIN holders who fail to submit their income tax return or apply for time extension.The NBR teams will visit houses, shops and other commercial establishments in the city’s various areas to find out the potential taxpayers. The officials will take support from service agencies to scrutinise information related to income, wealth and property of the potentially eligible taxpayers.The survey teams are collecting information related to national identity card, trade licence and other business documents from people having income from house or business properties and from service or other professions.NBR has directed the tax commissioners to bring all eligible persons and organisation under the tax net and take initiative to remove the phobia regarding tax payment, sources said.It also asked to intensify the tax survey and activate the inactive TIN numbers as submitting income tax return has been made mandatory for every TIN holder from this fiscal.The Income Tax Wing of the NBR has already given necessary directives to the field offices in this regard.As a part of the internal survey, the field level officials have already collected possible taxpayers information from city corporations, Rajuk and sub-registrar offices. This is popularly called ‘secondary data’.
Secondary data refers to the information of the individuals that are already kept with an organisation.The NBR also has started to collect information of the potential taxpayers at the upazila level through secondary data gathering, otherwise known as internal survey.According to data from the April 2021 issue of the World Economic Outlook, the tax to GDP ratio of the country has been 9.9 per cent on an average since 2016-2020, while it is 19.67 per cent for India, 21.50 per cent for Nepal, 14.88 for Pakistan, 12.74 per cent for Sri Lanka.The ratio is 24.72 per cent for developing countries and 35.81 per cent for developed countries, according to the data.The tax-to-GDP ratio is a ratio of a nation's tax revenue relative to its gross domestic product, the value of goods and services produced in a country during a certain period. The ratio is also a marker of how well the government controls a country's economic resources.According to an official document, the tax to GDP ratio in the current fiscal has been estimated at 10.7 per cent.
Local government to be strengthened for inclusive economic growth, says official document
The government is focusing on strengthening the local government system and rural development to make economic growth inclusive.
According to a budgetary document, to ensure strengthening the local government system, total expenditure in the rural development sector will increase by an average of 8.7 per cent to Tk. 475.12 billion by 2023-24 fiscal.
The estimation for the local government and rural development in 2023-24 fiscal is Tk 477.67 billion, while it will be Tk 435.34 billion for 2022-23 fiscal.
Read:Tomato cultivation transforms lives of Bagerhat farmers
The allocation for the sector is Tk 421.93 billion for the running 2021-22 fiscal whereas it was Tk 424.26 billion in the revised budget of 2020-21 fiscal, Tk 323.90 billion in 2019-20 fiscal and Tk 313.55 billion in 2018-19 fiscal.
The government has adopted a realistic plan of action to ensure potable water supply across the country including the capital city of Dhaka, reduce water logging in urban areas, ensure 100 per cent sanitation, and conserve and use groundwater instead of underground water sources.
The government is implementing multi-faceted activities to develop the country's economy, according to the official document.
How India plans to spiff up economic growth
India on Tuesday unveiled a growth-oriented budget aimed at boosting infrastructure like highways, cargo terminals and airports, and proffering its credit guarantee scheme to small firms to help them tide over the Covid-induced losses.
In her budget speech in Parliament, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the budget for the next fiscal -- from April 2022 to March 2023 -- had been raised to USD 540 billion (40 trillion Indian rupees) from USD 477 billion in the ongoing financial year.
“The economy has shown resilience to come out of the pandemic. We need to sustain the level of growth. The new infrastructure investments are part of the government's economic blueprint for the next 25 years," Sitharaman said.
The new infrastructure investments included a masterplan for some expressways (a high-speed corridor on a state or national highway), 25,000km of new highways, 100 new cargo terminals and some new greenfield airports.
Also read: Incentives for green hydrogen in India likely in Union Budget
On the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for small businesses, the Finance Minister said that it would be extended for one more year, up to March 2023.
"The allocation for the scheme aimed at providing credit to micro, small and medium-sized businesses, or MSMEs, will be expanded by Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 5 lakh crore," she said, adding that the extra amount would be earmarked for sectors such as hospitality.
In another big announcement, the Finance Minister said that the country's central bank would soon issue a new digital currency, powered by blockchain technology. At the same time, she proposed a 30% tax on any income from digital or virtual assets.
"A currency is a currency if it is issued by the central bank. Anything outside is not a currency. Everything that exists outside the central bank's ambit is an asset and we are taxing it at 30%," she said.
In July 2021, the Reserve Bank of India said it was working towards its own digital currency. "The Central Bank Digital Currency will be the same as a fiat currency and exchangeable one-to-one with the fiat currency," the bank's deputy governor T Rabi Sankar had said.
Moreover, in a first, the Finance Minister announced a plan to set up a National Tele-Mental Health programme in India under which 23 tele-mental health centres would be launched to address mental health issues plaguing many during the pandemic.
“To better the access to quality mental health counselling and care services, a National-Tele Mental Health programme will be launched. The Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Bengaluru, will provide tech support for the mental health programme,’’ she said.
However, no changes were announced in personal income tax rates this year. The government also did not announce any additional taxes on the country's wealthy, which brought cheers to the country's bourses.
Post-budget presentation, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his televised address, described it as "people-friendly and progressive". "The budget has brought new hopes and opportunities for the common people," he said, congratulating his Finance Minister.
India's main opposition Congress party, however, slammed the government, saying there was nothing in the budget for the middle classes, youth, farmers or women. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to say that it was a "zero sum budget".
Bangladesh achieves extraordinary, sustained economic growth
On 31 January 2022, Australia and Bangladesh celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations. It was on this day 50 years ago that Australia’s Foreign Minister, Nigel Bowen, announced that Australia had recognised the government led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the government of the new state of Bangladesh.
Whilst the announcement was made on 31 January, the Australian cabinet made the decision to recognise Bangladesh some days earlier on 25 January itself.
Australia is proud to count itself as a close friend of Bangladesh.
Those of us who have had the privilege to work for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are reminded of our close history with Bangladesh and Bengal each time we enter our diplomatic headquarters in Canberra, the RG Casey Building.
Read:Dhaka smells more ‘assaults’, wants to counter propaganda abroad with facts
As many readers would know, Richard Casey was Governor of Bengal from 1944 to 1946. He also served as Australia’s Foreign Minister and Governor General.
When he was Governor of Bengal, his secretary was James Lawrence Allen, who was an Australian born in British India and spoke Bangla and Urdu.
On this day 50 years ago, JL Allen became the head of our inaugural diplomatic mission in an independent Bangladesh.
Australia was not a passive bystander to the liberation struggle and is proud to be one of the first countries to have recognised Bangladesh’s independence.
During the liberation struggle Australia’s Prime Minister, William McMahon, wrote to General Yahya Khan four times urging a political settlement based upon negotiation with the Awami League and its leaders, particularly Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The fourth letter was written after Mr McMahon’s meeting with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in Washington DC on 4 November 1971.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations we commemorate the long and arduous struggle for Bangladesh’s independence. Our thoughts are with all the soldiers, men, women, and children who suffered during the liberation.
I would like to remember the contribution of Dutch-Australian William A S Ouderland, who fought in the Liberation War and was the only foreigner to have been awarded fourth-highest gallantry award, the Bir Pratik, by the Bangladesh government.
Ouderland organised and trained the guerrilla fighters of the Mukti Bahini and provided them with food and shelter and medicine.
I also acknowledge Australian Dr Geoffrey Davis who in 1972, at the request of WHO and International Planned Parenthood Federation, travelled to Bangladesh to support the hundreds of thousands of Birangonas.
This is a stark reminder of the scale of the suffering and the civilian cost of the war.
While we remember the struggle and the fallen, we also take stock of how much has been achieved in these past 50 years and look towards the future.
When Australia recognised Bangladesh and its government led by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Foreign Minister Bowen noted that ‘…as a country of 75 million people bordering the Indian Ocean, Bangladesh was likely to play an increasingly important part in the affairs of South and South East Asia.’
Perhaps it would be fair to say that, like so many people at that time, Mr Bowen might have also underestimated Bangladesh.
Over the past 50 years Bangladesh has demonstrated that its role in international affairs extends well beyond our shared Indo-Pacific region.
Bangladesh is a country with an international outlook. It is a major contributor to international peacekeeping efforts and a key voice for countries vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
Bangladesh has also achieved extraordinary, sustained economic growth.
Trade between Australia and Bangladesh has grown by 550 per cent over the last decade. By 2019-20, our two-way trade in goods and services reached nearly AUD2.6 billion. We want to see mutually beneficial trade continue to grow as our economies recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In September 2021, we signed a new Australia-Bangladesh Trade and Investment Framework Arrangement (TIFA).
Read:Dhaka wants international organisations to consider facts, not letters
Under the TIFA we look forward to exploring how our governments can work together to boost the recovery of the private sector and lead economic growth.
We also look forward to welcoming Bangladeshi officials to Australia in February 2022 for the inaugural TIFA joint working group talks, COVID-19 permitting.
As we celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations, I would particularly like to acknowledge the people-to-people links that have made our relationship so strong, warm and enduring.
As Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison noted in his message today, ‘With such enormous goodwill between us, I hold much hope for the years ahead.’
Commonwealth to assist Bangladesh in post-graduation economic growth
Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC) will assist Bangladesh sustain its robust economic growth after LDC graduation.
Samantha Cohen, CEO of Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC) said this at the meeting with Md. Jashim Uddin, president of FBCCI, held it on Sunday at a city hotel.
Read: FBCCI calls for extension of loan moratorium till June
The FBCCI president said that the businesses around the world are still not well-aware of Bangladesh’s rapid transformation that took place in the recent years and also about the tremendous opportunities that the “New Bangladesh” offers.
FBCCI is keen to connect with the private sector of the Commonwealth countries to promote the government’s “Branding Bangladesh” initiative.
Ms. Samantha mentioned that CWEIC will organize a high-level business delegation to Bangladesh later this year.
She requested FBCCI to arrange B2B meetings and factory visits for the delegation to show them the compliance and competitive advantages of the growing sectors of the country.
During the meeting, they discussed various aspects of mutually beneficial cooperation as well as how the Commonwealth platform can be utilized to retain Bangladesh's economic pace in the post LDC period.
They talked on export diversification and exploring markets across Commonwealth states, collaboration to increase high-skilled workforce and innovation, investment in infrastructures with technology accessibility, streamlining trade facilitation and technical support to strengthen the potential sectors of the country etc.
Read:FBCCI concerned over move to hike gas price
CWEIC will also assist Bangladesh to enter the mainstream market of its major and highly potential trade partners including the UK, Canada and Australia as well as highlight Bangladesh's remarkable development accomplishments and innumerable potentials among its member states.
FBCCI is the strategic partner of Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC) and Jashim Uddin, President of FBCCI is one of the members of CWEIC's Advisory Board.
Mohammad Mahfuzul Hoque, secretary general of FBCCI was also present at the meeting.
Bangladesh getting ready to tap 4IR opportunities: PM
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said the government is preparing the country for tapping the opportunities of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) to accelerate its economic growth towards the desired level.
“We’re formulating an innovative education ecosystem (IEE) by increasing the budget for research and innovation. We’re framing the National Blended Learning Policy-2021. Through this policy, we’ll be able to introduce an education system bridging the technological gap,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina said this while delivering her speech at the closing ceremony of a two-day international conference on the 4th Industrial Revolution-2021 held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
She joined the programme, which was organised on the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Golden Jubilee of independence, virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban.
Hasina said the use of technologies is increasing day by day along with invention of new ones. “Bangladesh has to move on keeping the pace of that.”
Read: Long-term policy sought for 4IR, technological shift
She said Bangladesh needs industrialisation while its economy is an agro-based one. “But we need industrialisation, we need agriculture and industries both, we’re taking various steps keeping that in our mind.”
Given the perspective of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, three issues are gaining importance -- development of the industry through innovation of sophisticated technology, creating skilled workforce, and protecting the environment, the PM said.
“Industrialisation aims to improve the lifestyle of people, create a market for new products, and accelerate the pace of the economy through employment,” she said.