A recap of an incredible development story.

From ‘basket case’ to the ‘new Asian tiger’.

Bangladesh has become South Asia’s economic bull-case, reported the Wall Street Journal in late 2021. When it emerged from the dark days of its Liberation War as an independent, sovereign nation, its economy was shattered and its infrastructure destroyed. Overcoming overwhelming poverty and against goliath-sized odds, Bangladesh’s success story is a lesson in development for the modern world. By June of 2022, Bangladesh is set to open its largest infrastructure project that is unprecedented in its history; while standing on the verge of a $400 billion economy. The compact but populous South Asian country has quietly been powering ahead using a very robust growth model. In the 1980s, Bangladesh policy makers turned their attention to developing new industrial capacity and rehabilitating the economy. They have since guided development priorities with increasingly sophisticated design and implementation. It achieved the highest cumulative GDP growth globally from 2010 to 2020 and is now on course to become a developed country by 2041. The country is truly a paradox that had been dismissed as a land of poverty and cyclones when it was born, and now has went on to become ‘a model for poverty reduction’ and human development in just fifty years.

Experts state that Bangladesh is notable in South Asia for being the "closest proxy" for the successful development models seen at various stages in South Korea, China and Vietnam. In a note sent out to clients, Gareth Leather and Krystal Tan, Asia economists at Capital Economics, wrote that Bangladesh has picked up about two-thirds of China's low-end manufacturing market share in Europe. A Bloomberg article recently reported that Bangladesh has now surpassed both India and Pakistan in terms of GDP per capita. Just last year the country also extended a $200 million credit facility to another neighbour, Sri Lanka, for the very first time. In 1971, when Bangladesh emerged from war many doubted the country’s ability to survive but today, 50 years later, those doubts have been put to rest. The state has made considerable progress in poverty reduction, health, family planning, female education, women's empowerment, child mortality and are performing well in many other socio-economic sectors.

More than just a bridge

The Padma Multipurpose Bridge, set to launch on 25th June, is one of the first of the eight fast-track projects of the Government of Bangladesh. Having celebrated fifty years of independence it is a landmark stage for the country, marking the successful completion of one of the biggest projects the country has ever undertaken. The process to get to this point, albeit riddled with complications, has held a ton of promise -- not only for the improved road communication system, but for the overall development of the country. The economic importance of the structure is in many ways obvious, and will become more apparent in the days, months and years to come. Its completion is not just about the economic value it will add, but also the symbolic value it holds. For a country that was once labelled as an international basket case, the sheer audacity of taking on such a massive infrastructure project and finishing it through its own funding, is nothing short of a marvel. Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina hopes it will bring major turnaround for South Asia’s youngest nation. Geostrategic factors like its location between South Asia and Southeast Asia, sustained economic growth, present political stability, cheap labour, and large consumer market—cumulatively offer competitive opportunities for business and trade in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government intends to capitalize on these growth fundamentals through several mega development projects such as the Padma Bridge. For a developing nation like Bangladesh, infrastructure development megaprojects are seen as a catalyst for accelerating economic growth. Bangladesh has been consistently able to attract investments from its major development partners because of the country’s rapid progress, ambitious development plans to upgrade infrastructure capabilities, a growing middle-class with steadily rising purchasing power, and a huge domestic market of around 165 million people.

As the Padma Bridge, the dream of millions in the south, is being inaugurated the miseries of people are going to come to an halt. The multipurpose bridge, a dream project of Bangladesh connecting the Mawa point of Munshiganj and the Jajira point of Shariatpur in Bangladesh, will make the journey easier for commuters and freight vehicles, and gradually boost the country’s GDP by 1.3-2%. Bangladesh's transformation over the past 50 years has been stunning. Besides maintaining GDP growth of over 8% for the last few years, our achievements in poverty eradication, creating employment, developing massive infrastructures, and digitalisation has paved the way for graduating Bangladesh from a Least Developing Country (LDC) to a middle-income country.

Sources:

The Business Standard

The Daily Star

Financial Express

World Bank

ADB

Times of India