Resource information
Bangladesh has recorded impressive
economic and social gains since the 1990s. Recent growth has
been at levels close to six percent. The country has doubled
per capita growth and taken large strides toward reaching
many Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), ahead of many
comparable countries. Attaining the MDGs calls for
accelerating economic growth to six-seven percent a year.
Accordingly, Bangladesh's Poverty Reduction Strategy
Paper (PRSP), ?unlocking the potential, puts into sharp
focus the need for investment climate improvements, as well
as inclusive growth and empowering the poor. Accelerating
growth will require greater investment - to aid
diversification into areas of comparative advantage and to
finance infrastructure - and higher productivity. This in
turn calls for a substantial improvement in the investment
climate. The strategy as laid out in the PRSP promotes an
enabling business environment as a key to Bangladesh's
development - by improving trade policies, enhancing the
legal and regulatory environment for the private sector,
developing an effective competition policy, establishing
policies friendly to foreign direct investment, and
deepening financial sector reforms. Addressing labor skills
and education is critical to improving productivity.
Improvements in the policy environment for energy
development are central to this effort, by strengthening the
institutional framework, addressing distorted pricing, and
encouraging accountable and transparent processes for
investment decisions. Equitable growth and empowerment of
the poor further call for strengthening of high-growth rural
and peri-urban areas with natural potential, via services
and infrastructure provision to such promising growth poles.
With sustained growth, the scarcity of certain resources
(energy, finance, land, labor skills) has started to strain
the economy's growth and productivity gains. Along
those lines, authors hope that this report will highlight
successful strategies to unblock bottlenecks in basic
resource markets and the investment environment, informing
the policy dialogue and allowing for the economy and
development of Bangladesh to forge ahead in a rapid, robust,
and socially equitable manner.
