Economists at a conference on Thursday said Bangladesh's economy needs to grow at over 7.0 per cent rate for ensuring sustainable growth and eradicate extreme poverty.
They also suggested the government to emphasise human resources development, enhance public investment in social protection, and raise revenue income for facilitating the growth momentum of the country.
They said these on the concluding day of a two-day conference titled 'Towards sustained eradication of extreme poverty in Bangladesh' at the Planning Commission in the city.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) and Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) organised the programme, where a number of economists, researchers, academics and government officials were present.
Economic Advisor to Prime Minister Dr Mashiur Rahman, BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman, senior economist Professor Rehman Sobhan, BIDS director general Dr KAS Murshid, and member of General Economics Division (GED) Professor Shamsul Alam, among others, participated in the conference.
Prof Rehman Sobhan said it is not possible to eradicate poverty without proper distribution of resources and ensuring equal participation of all in the open market economy.
"Benefits of the country's economic growth will have to reach everybody equally. The country needs to undertake more productive activities. It has to work to form an equal society."
Special focus should be given on small and medium industries to cut the poverty of Bangladesh, he added.
Dr Mashiur Rahman said the government has taken initiatives to enhance revenue income, investment from both local and foreign sources, and gross domestic product (GDP) growth of the country for the sake of eradicating poverty at a higher rate.
He emphasised quality education for human resources development to boost the country's GDP growth. Besides, special programme on skill development is also imperative for the state.
BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman said the central bank study forecasts that poverty rate will come down to single-digit (8.3%) level by 2028.
"Despite decade-long public and private sector interventions, supported by multilateral and bilateral donors, extreme poverty in Bangladesh still remains high, which is targeted to be reduced to a lower single-digit by 2021."
Occasional spells of slow improvement are often followed by backslides in natural calamities, pushing vulnerable population groups back into deprivations of extreme poverty, he concluded.
The economists attending the programme have also suggested focusing on eradicating poverty in the upcoming 7th five-year development plan, enhancing public investment in the social safety-net programmes for vulnerable groups, and enhancing foreign direct investment.
They said the government will have to ensure that the social safety-net progrmmes reach to real vulnerable groups in the country by checking fraudulence in resources distribution.
They also opined that graduation to a middle-income country does not mean that the poverty is eradicated properly. Rather the extreme poor will have to get all the state facilities to boost their socio-economic condition.
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Economy needs to grow at over 7pc : Economists
FE Report | Published: April 10, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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