Bangladesh-Economy

Nov 14, 2007

Experts say Bangladesh can almost double per income to US$870 by 2016

By JULHAS ALAM=
Associated Press Writer

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) _ Impoverished Bangladesh can almost double its per capita income by 2016 if the South Asian nation continues to improve its infrastructure and conduct policy reforms, an expert of the World Bank and a top businessman said Wednesday.

Bangladesh, a nation of 145 million people, has maintained annual growth of over 5 percent since 1990 and has potential to achieve a 7.5 percent growth in coming years, they said at a discussion in the nation's capital, Dhaka, quoting a report of the World Bank.

If the GDP growth increases to 7.5 percent a year the country can reach per capita income of $870 from the current $470 by 2016, they said.

"Achieving that target is not an easy job but this is very much possible for Bangladesh," said World Bank economist Sandeep Mahajan.

Mahajan said the country's manufacturing sector has a huge potential to grow and for that "there are some choices to be made."

He said further improvement of the country's physical infrastructure is one of the preconditions to achieve that target.

Continuous transition from the agriculture-based economy to manufacture-based economy could help the country achieve the goal, he said.

Also, he said, the government needs to pursue liberal tax policy so that private sector could implement more projects easily and the country could attract more foreign direct investment.

Mir Nasir Hossain, President of the trade apex body Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the private sector would be the prime force in achieving that target if they get better infrastructure.

"We mainly need an improved port facility," Hossain said.

"Uninterrupted power supply is another need of the time."

He said the country needs more export-oriented manufacturing sector other than the textile industry, which accounts for more than 75 percent of the total export earnings a year.

Bangladesh annually earns about $10 billion from textile exports, mainly to the United Sates and Europe.