BD on right track to graduate from LDCs

Bangladesh seems to be on the right track to graduate from the status of Least Developed Country (LDC) within the targeted timeframe, a United Nations high official said.

"It looks like Bangladesh is on the right track," said Fekitamoeloa Utoikamanu, UN Under-Secretary General for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.

"One of the notions that is vital to keep the countries on the right track to graduate from the LDC status is to achieve around 7 per cent GDP growth rate and Bangladesh has been able to attain such growth in recent years," she said in an interview with the FE on Wednesday during her three-day visit to Dhaka for attending a high-level meeting on 'Achieving Sustainable Graduation for Least Developed Countries'.

Bangladesh is eyeing to formally graduate from the LDC status by the year 2024.

As per the UN provisions, inclusion and graduation of LDCs are based on three criteria: per-capita gross national income, human assets, and economic vulnerability to external shocks.

Bangladesh has already reached necessary threshold levels for Economic Vulnerability Index and Human Asset Index while it is expecting to meet the threshold of Gross National Income (GNI) by next year, when the next round of LDC graduation review would take place.

The LDC graduation review takes place every three years. As per the current provisions, a country needs to be eligible in two consecutive reviews before any recommendation is made.

Therefore, Bangladesh will have to meet these same criteria again in 2021 to be recommended for graduation from the LDC status.

"The review that is going to take place next year is going to be very important. At that time, we will find out whether Bangladesh has met the required thresholds," Utoikamanu said.

"Bangladesh will have to meet the required thresholds for a second time again after three years. Then, it would be in line for graduating from LDC status," she added.

Experts have long been arguing that the loss of the LDC status at graduation might give rise to potentially important economic costs due to withdrawal of the GSP facilities.

As Bangladesh is expected to graduate concurrently from both United Nations and the World Bank classifications, it was also noted that, the options for concessional financing will also dry out.

The UN Under-Secretary General, however, said that they were looking for some concrete measures that would help support countries post-graduation to ensure smooth transition and its sustainability.

"The high-level meeting in Dhaka is focusing on how the countries prepare themselves for both pre-graduation and post-graduation challenges," she said.

"In this meeting, we have invited countries who have already graduated from the LDC status so that those countries can share their experiences leading up to their graduation and how they have coped with the post-graduation era.

"We have also brought the UN agencies to discuss how they might be able to continue their support for a certain period in the post-graduation era," Utoikamanu said, adding: "Observations coming from this Dhaka meeting will provide inputs for a UN report that will come out next year."

Bangladesh's LDC graduation period comes at a time when the country is also working on attaining the UN-mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

From that point of view, the UN high official observed that the LDC graduation process could go hand in hand with the attainment of SDGs.

"A number of SDGs including those dealing with poverty, hunger, good health, quality education as well as affordable and clean energy are linked with LDC graduation criteria," Utoikamanu said.

The UN Under-Secretary-General also thinks that the private sector could play a very vital role in achieving the SDGs.

"One of the major differences between Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals is the inclusive nature of the engagements that took place prior to the adoption of SDGs," she said.

"The government actually cannot go alone in implementing the SDGs. So, there needs to be partnership between public and private sector to support the implementation of SDGs."

[email protected]