Wall Street Journal lauds Bangladesh’s booming economy

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A massive 80% upsurge in exports in Bangladesh in the last decade has coincided with a dip in neighbouring India and Pakistan

Renowned US-established business daily The Wall Street Journal has got praised the staggering expansion of Bangladesh’s economy recently, dubbing the united states as “South Asia’s monetary bull case.”

Bangladesh may be the closest proxy in South Asia for the successful export-led development types employed in Southeast Asian countries Vietnam and Cambodia, together with global monetary powerhouse China, said the newspaper found in a written report on Wednesday.

The WSJ report follows in the wake of the UN Committee for Production Policy’s recent recommendation that Bangladesh graduate from Least Developed Country (LDC) status.

A massive 80% upsurge in exports in Bangladesh in the last decade has coincided with a dip in neighbouring India and Pakistan. The gap in GDP per capita between Bangladesh and India was 40% in 2011, but the former possesses now caught up.

However, exports in Vietnam more than tripled and in Cambodia, a lot more than doubled more than the same a decade.

WSJ stressed the necessity for Bangladesh to follow the example of Vietnam and transition to high-value making and exports to maintain expansion and reduce dependency on the garment market. 

The diversification of Bangladesh’s exports would require greater participation in Asian trade blocs, including the Association of Southeast Asian Countries, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, the newspaper added.