The development partners of Bangladesh will review the problems and prospects of the country at the Bangladesh Development Forum (BDF) scheduled to be held in the capital on Wednesday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the Forum and Finance Minister AMA Muhith will chair the inaugural session. The Economic Relations Division (ERD) has regularly been organising the high-level multi-stakeholder participatory forum as a platform for dialogues among development partners, national and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), development think-tanks, development practitioners, leaders from business and industry.
The last BDF meeting was held in 2015 when both the Seventh Five-Year Plan (SFYP) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) poised to be launched. This year's BDF warrants special attention for a number of reasons. Firstly, despite a better economic growth rate and improvement in social indicators, the economy of Bangladesh seems to be under severe pressure arising from both internal and external conditions. The loss of rice harvests following two consecutive devastating floods, the influx of Rohingyas, the declining growth rate in remittance, the ailing banking sector, money laundering on an increasing scale and dwindling export earnings, etc., are a few of the problems. Rising inequality and environment degradation are also big concerns. It remains to be seen whether the Forum would endorse the ongoing strategies or recommend a correction of course.
Secondly, the year 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of independence of Bangladesh. In recognition of the long-term development challenges, the government adopted the seminal Vision 2021. This lays down a 'pragmatic' development framework which would ensure a higher standard of living, better education, better social justice, a more equitable socio-economic environment, and sustainability of development through better protection from climate change and natural disasters.
Thirdly, at present, the country is implementing its SFYP with the expectation to realise Vision 2021. The Plan, which is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), lays out a roadmap of higher, sustainable and inclusive growth for the period of 2016-2020. In other words, the Forum will serve the purpose of a mid-term review of both SFYP and SDGs.
There is, however, a lot of good news for the Bangladesh economy. It has grown at over 6.0 per cent per annum for a decade and poverty has been halved from the 1990 level. Life expectancy, rate of literacy and per capita food production have increased significantly over time. In 2015, the economy 'graduated' to low middle-income band. Growth in the Bangladesh economy in fiscal year 2017 'at over 7.0 per cent', the highest in recent years, has been possible due to prudent policies that have revived exports and sustained domestic consumption. Prudent macroeconomic management in recent years has also helped keep inflation within reasonable limits, build up foreign exchange reserves, hold the currency exchange rate steady, restrain fiscal deficits, and shrink external debt as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The growth drivers (key contributors to the country's development) -garments, pharmaceuticals, remittance, agriculture - have mostly been inclusive, contributing to social harmony.
But bear in mind that Bangladesh is now faced with tremendous challenges amid four critical transitions: industrialisation, urbanisation, youthful demography, and adoption of technology. The country strives to improve its infrastructure, business climate and quality of its workforce. Tackling of the impact of climate change remains a major development priority.
As it could be gleaned from the papers circulated, the Forum will focus, among other things, on:
a) Taking stock of current stakeholder thinking on selected priority areas of the economy likely having strategic impact on Bangladesh's development;
b) Consolidating and acknowledging various strands of development actions taken by different stakeholders;
c) Devising a broad agreed position, or indicate probable steps for it, on approaches to be undertaken by actors in the short to mid-term time-frame.
d) Enhancing productivity through innovation.
Violence against women could be another area of focus. It cannot be addressed only by formulating laws and raising public awareness. The best way to end violence against women is to prevent it from happening in the first place by addressing its roots and structural causes and ensuring women empowerment through equal rights in the resource, education, job, and opportunity. The BDF targets to find an appropriate approach for addressing the challenges of eradicating women violence and truly empowering women of the country.
Improving urban service delivery and managing rural migration at times of faster economic growth result in rapid urbanisation and massive rural migration due to increased inequality in urban and rural income. Evidence shows that increased migration from rural areas to urban centres is taking place due to searching for employment or higher income, access to better education or health.
An effective and coherent role of civil society organisations (CSOs), NGOs and media on SDG awareness and promotion will be crucial. A vibrant multi-stakeholder mechanism to support the government in SDG implementation, particularly in participatory monitoring and accountability, is necessary. The role of South-South and Triangular Cooperation can also be looked at as a means of SDG financing.
The BDF would focus on leadership that facilitates institutional coherence which is essential for bringing together actors across and outside the government to build an integrated approach, ensuring alignment in policies and providing overall results-oriented direction for financing policies. It would also try to get a clearer vision for results that the country wants to achieve through a financing framework on which sustainable development impacts can be developed. The success of the BDF is critical to the upcoming needs of the Bangladesh society.
The writer is a former Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University.
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