Welcome New Year

Yet another year on the Gregorian calendar has passed into eternity and the world wakes up on a new year. The advent of the New Year is a befitting time for both reflecting on the immediate past and speculating on what is in store in the future. Peoples across the world have diverse cultures, languages and lifestyles; they as such have their respective calendars and celebrate their New Year in distinct and different ways. But in the age of globalisation, the Gregorian calendar has virtually a universal acceptance and the Gregorian New Year is celebrated at every corner of the world with great festivity.
Bangladesh passed relatively a good time in the year 2016, albeit barring a few major incidents of terror attacks. On the back of a stable political environment, good farm production, declining prices of fuel oil  and commodity products in the international markets and substantial public sector investment, the economy continued to grow at a decent pace. Exports, however, slowed down, to some extent, and remittance inflow, after many years, recorded a negative growth, creating worries among the policymakers. The fresh influx of Rohingya refugees also triggered anxiety. The international image of the country suffered a setback following a terror attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan that left 20 people, including eight foreigners, dead. Besides, a couple of foreigners were killed by suspected militants in separate incidents. The situation has however become largely normal following decisive actions by the security forces against the militants.
Bangladesh's economic performance and potential drew global attention during the year 2016 and it was manifested through a few high-profile visits, including the one by Chinese President Xi Jinping and another by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The signing of bilateral agreements during Jinping's visit is likely to fetch the country Chinese assistance worth $27 billion. Multilateral donors also demonstrated increased interest in taking part in the country's development programmes.  
As the country enters another year, everybody expects it to do even better than the previous year notwithstanding the fact that it, along with many other nations, will be facing a very uncertain time in view of some major global developments that took place in 2016. The Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as US president, in particular, have exposed the world to a time of great uncertainties. The world order in relation to trade, aid, migration and security might undergo a sea change if the electoral promises of Mr. Trump were implemented. In fact the world is waiting anxiously to see the moves of the new US president after his inauguration on January 20 next. The rise of populism in many developed countries has emerged as threat to multilateralism and return of protectionism, particularly in areas of trade and migration. The return of protectionism might prove more painful for countries like Bangladesh.
Though the country did well in some areas in recent years, its potential has remained largely untapped because of some weaknesses that are very often mentioned in reports by international organisations. Systemic corruption, tax evasion, abuse of power, flight of capital, poor governance, etc., are retarding the nation's journey towards peace and prosperity. Hopefully, efforts will be made by all concerned to bring about changes in a pro-active way, for people's well-being, in the New Year.