Global energy transition offers opportunity to boost growth in South Asia, says World Bank

Despite solid growth, South Asia faces a risky outlook, the World Bank says in its latest regional economic update, urging countries to fully capitalise on the global energy transition to help boost growth.
Constrained by slowing growth and fiscal challenges, South Asia's governments have limited room to help their economies make the most of the global energy transition, it notes.
The focus of the WB's economic outlook was communicated at the inaugural session of a two-day 12th South Asia Economic Policy Network Conference titled 'Toward Faster, Cleaner Growth' in South Asia, jointly organised by the World Bank and the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) held at a city hotel on Monday, says a press release.
According to the economic update, the transition presents an opportunity to boost productivity and investment, create jobs, cut air pollution, and reduce reliance on fuel imports.
"Even with limited fiscal space, countries can encourage firms to adopt more energy-efficient technologies through market-based regulations, information campaigns, broader access to finance, and the provision of reliable power grids," it noted.
Speaking on the occasion, Planning Minister M A Mannan said Bangladesh has made some impressive progress in green development. Citing an example, he said, "Our garment sector ranks among the world's best on the number of green factories."
"We must continue on the path outlined in Bangladesh's Energy Efficiency and Conservation Master Plan, which includes a series of programmes that aim to help large industrial energy consumers, residential consumers, buildings, private companies, and government agencies move toward energy efficiency," said the minister.
While South Asian firms are enthusiastic adopters of basic energy-efficient technologies, they lag in the adoption of more advanced technologies.
"Bangladesh is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change," said Abdoulaye Seck, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan.
"And as the intensity and frequency of natural disasters increase, Bangladesh must do more to tackle the environment and climate risks and sustain its strong growth performance," he suggested.
Mr Seck further said green growth can help Bangladesh build long-term resilience against climate risks while help attain its vision of becoming an upper-middle-income country.
"In this conference, we will truly emphasise the agenda of green growth and delve deeply into the choices we can make and how we can deliver on this agenda." said Imran Matin, BIGD Executive Director.
He said in South Asia, given the salience of its population and demographics, the green growth agenda is not only a topic of central importance, but also a place to foster central innovation.
"The green growth agenda cannot be advanced without really thinking about how it delivers on growth and the importance of interdisciplinary approach is the key to understanding green growth," he noted.

syful-islam@outlook.com