Bangladesh needs a decade to graduate from LDC status: CPD:Daily Sun

 Bangladesh will need a decade to graduate out of the LDC category subject to a rise in per capita income, continuation of GDP growth and human resource development, private think-tank Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said on Thursday. It also said lifting the nation to middle-income status doesn’t mean graduating from the least developed country (LDC) category. “What we will need to lift the coun
try to a middle-income category is raising income. But, graduating out of LDC will require improvement in all economic indicators,” said Debapriya Bhattahcarya, the distinguish fellow of the renowned private think tank, at a media briefing held at CIRDAP auditorium Thursday. According to CPD projection, the country will need to raise real income from $900 to $1200 per capita. Though the state-run Bureau of Statistics recently reported a significant rise in per capita to $1190 from $1050 a couple of years ago, many quarters including the CPD feel that the bureau’s data is not credible enough. Debapriya said, “Some of us seem to be satisfied with the impression that the country is going to join the middle-income nations’ club soon. But, it will not be possible without uninterrupted economic growth with a rise in income and productivity and creation of huge employment.” The country, during the last decade, obtained above 6.0 GDP growths in average year-on-year. The target of the government is to lift the country to middle-income category by 2021. To attain the target, the government has raised the annual public expenditure and putting efforts in places to raise private investment also. The CPD organised the briefing for journalist to disseminate the UNCTAD LDC Report 2014, which launched globally on the same day. The CPD unveiled the report in Bangladesh as the local partner of UNCTAD. CPD Research Fellow Toufiqul Islam Khan presented the report at the media briefing. CPD Executive Director Dr Mustafizur Rahman and Additional Research Director Khandker Golum Moazzem spoke, among others at the function.