There is not much to be concerned about the mild warning in the latest WB report that political instability could once again engulf the economy. As it is, people in this country are most unlikely to respond once again to calls from any political quarter to resume any sort of agitation that would harm the economy

World Bank report on the economy

The World Bank( WB)  report released on Tuesday has many positive things to say about the on going performance of the Bangladesh economy. But it is odd to see our local media picking up one apprehension in the report and highlighting it while ignoring the otherwise many bright things mentioned about the economy in that report. The  singular negative that was highlighted dealt with the unresolved political issues that might once again disrupt the economy’s performance.
In this connection, one may recall that  the economy was sought to be completely besieged by the over three months long hartal-aborodh  action programme launched by  a political party and its allies in 2014. But the economically suicidal activities  of that party and its bedfellows were finally and overwhelmingly rejected by the mass people and it died down soon afterwards. The economy rebounded impressively after this man made trauma and surprised  possibly the most diehard skeptics by posting a fairly decent economic  growth rate at the end of the year. Thus, the economy was found smiling in 2015 allaying the earlier fears expressed about its highly probable back sliding due to politically caused factors.
Thus, there is not much to be concerned about the mild warning in the latest  WB  report that political instability could once again engulf  the economy. As it is, people in this country are most unlikely to respond once again to calls from any political quarter to resume any sort of agitation that would harm the economy remembering their bitter experiences on this score in 2013 and 2014.
The political forces that launched such programmes have been much weakened since that time and are like a spent force. Therefore, it is improbable that they would be  suddenly and automatically revived and invigorated to go for a replay of their furious street programmes like in the past two years.
If the WB wants to advise, then they may suggest to the government the adoption of rules and regulation that would make any move to restart  economy  bludgeoning activities, extremely difficult. As it is, there is a groundswell of opinion in the country seeking the legal ban of economy debilitating  hartals, aborodh, etc. These proposals may now be pushed forward with resolve for their acceptance and implementation before another round of agitation is planned and tried for execution.
WB authorities also need to realise that the Bangladesh economy faces serious negative externalities from the travel alerts that some Western countries have clamped down on visiting Bangladesh. WB is understood to be a mainly Western construct. Therefore, it can be expected to play a desirable role by urging the governments of these Western countries to withdraw these unjustified travel alerts to help Bangladesh’s economy. It can similarly urge the US government to restore the GSP facility for Bangladesh as well as allowing duty free entry of Bangladeshi RMG products in the US market.

There is not much to be concerned about the mild warning in the latest WB report that political instability could once again engulf the economy. As it is, people in this country are most unlikely to respond once again to calls from any political quarter to resume any sort of agitation that would harm the economy

World Bank report on the economy

The World Bank( WB) report released on Tuesday has many positive things to say about the on going performance of the Bangladesh economy. But it is odd to see our local media picking up one apprehension in the report and highlighting it while ignoring the otherwise many bright things mentioned about the economy in that report. The singular negative that was highlighted dealt with the unresolved political issues that might once again disrupt the economys performance. In this connection, one may recall that the economy was sought to be completely besieged by the over three months long hartal-aborodh action programme launched by a political party and its allies in 2014. But the economically suicidal activities of that party and its bedfellows were finally and overwhelmingly rejected by the mass people and it died down soon afterwards. The economy rebounded impressively after this man made trauma and surprised possibly the most diehard skeptics by posting a fairly decent economic growth rate at the end of the year. Thus, the economy was found smiling in 2015 allaying the earlier fears expressed about its highly probable back sliding due to politically caused factors. Thus, there is not much to be concerned about the mild warning in the latest WB report that political instability could once again engulf the economy. As it is, people in this country are most unlikely to respond once again to calls from any political quarter to resume any sort of agitation that would harm the economy remembering their bitter experiences on this score in 2013 and 2014. The political forces that launched such programmes have been much weakened since that time and are like a spent force. Therefore, it is improbable that they would be suddenly and automatically revived and invigorated to go for a replay of their furious street programmes like in the past two years. If the WB wants to advise, then they may suggest to the government the adoption of rules and regulation that would make any move to restart economy bludgeoning activities, extremely difficult. As it is, there is a groundswell of opinion in the country seeking the legal ban of economy debilitating hartals, aborodh, etc. These proposals may now be pushed forward with resolve for their acceptance and implementation before another round of agitation is planned and tried for execution. WB authorities also need to realise that the Bangladesh economy faces serious negative externalities from the travel alerts that some Western countries have clamped down on visiting Bangladesh. WB is understood to be a mainly Western construct. Therefore, it can be expected to play a desirable role by urging the governments of these Western countries to withdraw these unjustified travel alerts to help Bangladeshs economy. It can similarly urge the US government to restore the GSP facility for Bangladesh as well as allowing duty free entry of Bangladeshi RMG products in the US market.