Poverty reduction and income inequality are still big challenges for Bangladesh despite its looming graduation from a least developed country in 2026, according to Planning Minister MA Mannan.
“We still face problems such as poverty, lack of skilled manpower, poor healthcare, sanitation and education facilities, despite having achieved 6 per cent economic growth every year over the past decade,” he said, citing how the government has long been trying to address these issues.
For all latest news, follow The My News’s Google News channel. Mannan yesterday made these comments while addressing a conference on “Shaping the future of work: Navigating employment frontiers through job quality”.
The conference, styled “Sustainable Growth and Climate Change”, was organised by the International Growth Centre (IGC) and Research and Policy Integration for Development at InterContinental Dhaka.
The planning minister said during the last decade, the government developed physical infrastructure with people now able to travel anywhere in the country.
Besides, people’s living standards have improved, he added.
Mannan thanked the country’s development partners, who provide financial support for infrastructure development.
However, he said the private sector also has the responsibility to improve peoples’ living standard as it controls 80 per cent of the economy.
Mannan also expressed regret over the rise of child labour in Bangladesh.
As per the National Child Labour Survey-2022 of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the number of children engaged in child labour increased by 4.5 per cent over the past decade to 17.76 lakh at present compared to 16.98 lakh in 2013.
As such, the number of working children has increased to 35.36 lakh from 34.5 lakh.
Mannan said the government has a lot of plans for developing the country.
He further said democracy and good governance are important for the development of any nation, but creating sufferings for people through anarchy and blocking roads cannot bring good governance and wellbeing.
Indicating activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the minister urged all to abide by the laws of the country as responsible citizens.
Ariful Hoque, director of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), said even amid the global economic recession in 2022, Bangladesh got $3.4 billion in foreign investment proposals, which was the second highest amount ever received.
He also said till now, Bangladesh got $22 billion in cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI).
Hoque added that BIDA has taken a number of initiatives to reform policies and attract FDI.
Mohammed Zahidullah, chief sustainability officer of DBL Group, said they have a diversified business for business sustainability and to generate employment.
“Through diversifying and expansion, we are creating skilled manpower and contributing in improving the living standards of people,” he added.
Moderated by Shahid Vaziralli, head of the research programme at the IGC, the session was also addressed by Julia Cajal Grossi, assistant professor of economics at the Centre for Trade and Economic Integration of the Geneva Graduate Institute.
Nina Caroline Buchmann, a PhD candidate in economics at Stanford University of the US, and Neeran Ramjuthan, programme manager of labour administration and working conditions at the International Labour Organization, also spoke.