Bangladesh to graduate out of LDC by 2015: CPD: Middle-income country by 2024:UNCTAD

Civil-society think-tank CPD thinks Bangladesh could get out from the world’s poor-country club called LDCs by 2015 while UN agency UNCTAD pushes back to 2024 the landmark time for the country’s graduation to the middle-income group.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said if the country could increase its per-capita income, develop its social indicators and reduce the economic risks, it would be possible to cast off the LDC label.
A distinguished CPD fellow, Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya came up with this projection Thursday during the launch of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) annual report in Bangladesh.
CPD launched the report for the fourth consecutive time in Bangladesh. The launching ceremony was held in the CPD dialogue room where CPD additional director (research) Fahmida Khatun presented the UNCTAD report.
Dr Debapriya observed that human resources and the economy of Bangladesh are good support for the country to jump off the LDC list. “But the effects of the global climate change is a great concern in this regard,” he said.
The LDC bloc was established in 1971, and since then, only two countries (Botswana in 1994 and Cape Verde in 2007) have ‘graduated’ from the category. Samoa is expected to graduate in December 2010 and the Maldives in January 2011. In 2009 Equatorial Guinea is recommended to be graduated.
The number of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in 1971 was 25, which has snowballed to 49 up till 2009 over the years in the pauperization process under the disparate world economic system wherein the hedonistic rich nations wallow in wealth.
According to backdated UNCTAD calculation, Bangladeshi people’s per-capital income was 386.6 US dollars in 2006. The per-head income in the United States was USD 46,859 while in the United Kingdom USD 43,785 in 2008, according to the IMF. Luxemburg boasts of having the highest tally of USD 113044.
The CPD fellow said that Bangladesh has to adopt pro-development good governance to boost the country towards a sustainable develop status.
The CPD additional director (research), Fahmida Khatun, in her presentation said that the tax-GDP ratio in the African LDCs is 12.2 whereas it was here only nine percent in 2009 and targeted to be 9.3 percent in 2010.
She said that the high real rate of interest (RRI) is a concern fore investment in Bangladesh. The rate in Bangladesh is 9.4 while 7.6 percent in Asian LDCs, less than 4 percent in rich countries and nine percent in the overall LDCs.
“High RRI jeopardizes long-term growth by increasing cost of public and private investment,” she told the function.
CPD executive director Mustafizur Rahman was also present at the launching ceremony.

Courtesy of The New Nation