Bangladesh already in middle-income trap: White Paper Committee
It said the AL government’s determination to “cling to political power through rigged elections overlooked the full costs of these developmental strategies where the government, connected businesses and elite bureaucracy put democratic accountability on the back burner
The middle income growth trap is not lurking any more, it is here in Bangladesh, the draft of the White Paper on State of Bangladesh Economy has said.
Saying there was growth in the previous regime, the committee found that it was not as much as made out to be.
The paper also slated the AL government's developmental strategies.
"A policy of the development of capital-intensive Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and heavy industries (steel, cement) and prioritising the erection of 'temples of development' such as the mega projects in power and transport sidelined investing in small and medium entrepreneurs and farmers or the development of existing cities to make them liveable and, more generally, the Sustainable Development Goals.
It said the AL government's determination to "cling to political power through rigged elections overlooked the full costs of these developmental strategies where the government, connected businesses and elite bureaucracy put democratic accountability on the back burner."
