Bangladesh needs to upgrade its domestic industry and diversify its export basket. Targeted policies since the 1980s have nurtured manufacturing. These measures, backed by favourable trade preferences tied to its LDC status, have spurred industry growth. With LDC graduation slated for 2026, Bangladesh must sustain its industrial evolution, focusing on innovation, sustainability, and inclusivity. This necessitates updating trade policies for business innovation. This chapter examines Bangladesh's electronics and pharmaceuticals sectors, which serve domestic needs and have export potential. Drawing on international dialogue and domestic consultation, this chapter explores the key priorities Bangladesh will have to focus on if it is to unlock its transformative potential.
The TOSSD statistical framework aims to provide a complete picture of all official resources flowing into developing countries for their sustainable development, providing reliable, comparable and transparent data. This working paper compares the TOSSD data for the year 2019 with datasets collected by three countries: Bangladesh, Cameroon and Colombia. The study explores similarities and differences between the TOSSD data and the data collected at the local level, and provides recommendations on how to improve data completeness and accuracy. It also suggests how a data validation mechanism for TOSSD could work, allowing recipient countries to provide timely feedback.
Blockchain is mainstreaming, but the number of blockchain for development use-cases with proven success beyond the pilot stage remain relatively few. This paper outlines key blockchain concepts and implications in order to help policymakers reach realistic conclusions when considering its use. The paper surveys the broad landscape of blockchain for development to identify where the technology can optimise development impact and minimise harm. It subsequently critically examines four successful applications, including the World Food Programme’s Building Blocks, Oxfam’s UnBlocked Cash project, KfW’s TruBudget and Seso Global. As part of the on-going work co-ordinated by the OECD’s Blockchain Policy Centre, this paper asserts that post-COVID-19, Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors and their development partners have a unique opportunity to shape blockchain’s implementation.
Between 2008 and 2030 the economy of South Asia is expected to grow at an average of 5% per annum. Such growth rates can only be sustained if adequate supplies of manpower are available. The projected increases in population could lead to a pattern of emigration followed by return, thereby propagating temporary migration – particularly of the younger cohorts – from South Asia to the OECD, unless the higher education sectors of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh absorb them for quality education and equip them with the skills that their own labour markets require. While the male-female distribution is expected to be roughly the same in all three countries by 2030, India has been projected to enjoy a “demographic dividend” while facing a high rate of graduate unemployment co-existing with skill shortages in sectors such as IT, education, health, insurance, heavy engineering, civil aviation, oil and gas.
This annual publication compiles comparable tax revenue statistics for Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, People’s Republic of China, Cook Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nauru, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Tokelau, Vanuatu and Viet Nam. It also provides information on non-tax revenues for selected economies. Based on the OECD Global Revenue Statistics database, the publication applies the OECD methodology to Asian and Pacific economies to enable comparison of tax levels and tax structures on a consistent basis, both among the economies of the region and with other economies worldwide. This edition includes a special feature on strengthening tax revenues in developing Asia. The publication is jointly produced by the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration and the OECD Development Centre, in co-operation with the Asian Development Bank, the Pacific Island Tax Administrators Association and the Pacific Community.
Megacities in the South are particularly at risk from climate change. They are poor, with weak social and physical infrastructures that can barely cope with the negative effects of climate change, including migration. Collaborative resilience and the social and physical capacity to adapt are at the heart of human survival strategies. What Dhaka needs are flexible institutions, good governance and transparency, and strong social systems and networks.
Half a century after independence, Bangladesh has achieved impressive progress. The country has transformed from one of the poorest nations into a global textile manufacturing hub capable of meeting its medical needs almost entirely through domestic pharmaceutical production. The country will graduate from the least developed country (LDC) category in 2026 and aspires to be a high-income nation through industrialisation by 2041. Meeting this challenge requires accelerating economic transformation through diversification and innovation. This Production Transformation Policy Review (PTPR), implemented with the support and collaboration of the European Union (EU), and in partnership with the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), identifies concrete options for supporting Bangladesh’s development. It calls for leveraging digitalisation to address persistent fragilities and it advocates for a new pact based on shared responsibilities between the national government, the private sector and international partners to shift to a new development phase and ensure sustainable, smooth and irreversible graduation.
This dataset stems from the database presented in the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2013-2022. The table contains projections on the agriculture market and commodities such as cereals, oilseeds, diary products, cotton and more. It includes statistics on the trade side including data on production, prices, trade balance, ending stocks, consumption, transformation, etc. For most of the commodity markets analysed in the Agricultural Outlook, domestic and international commodity prices are also available. In most cases the data go back to 1970 and cover up to the latest year of projection (currently 2022).
Countries in Asia and the Pacific face a heightened risk of flooding as disasters increase worldwide due to climate change. Yet these countries often lack the infrastructure necessary to prepare for and respond to floods effectively. When flood protection measures exist, they generally rely only on grey, hard-engineered infrastructure, which has been increasingly challenged in recent years. Nature-based solutions (NbS) offer a new approach for flood management, with several co-benefits beyond the reduction of risks. This approach has gained recognition from policy makers in the region, but they are confronted with a number of challenges, including the lack of a clear, common definition and guidelines, as well as financing issues. The growing imperatives of climate adaptation call for complementary, innovative and forward-looking solutions, such as a combined approach incorporating both NbS and grey infrastructure.
Subnational governments in Asia and the Pacific are key providers of the public services and infrastructure required to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Given this role, it is essential that policymakers and development partners understand and support the effective functioning of multi-level governance structures and subnational government finances across the region.
This joint OECD-ADB report provides a comprehensive overview of subnational governments across Asia and the Pacific. It covers over 467,000 subnational governments from 26 countries, which represent 53% of the world’s population and 40% of global GDP. On average in 2020, subnational governments in the region accounted for 29% of total public expenditure (8.8% of GDP), 35% of total public revenue (8.5% of GDP) and 38% of public investment (2% of GDP).
Harnessing unique data from the 3rd edition of the OECD-UCLG World Observatory on Subnational Government Finance and Investment, the analysis highlights how decentralisation and territorial reforms have reconfigured the structures and finances of subnational governments in the region. It covers a range of topics including fiscal rules, financial management capacity, priority-based budgeting, asset management and the use of public-private partnerships.
The world is increasingly facing a technologically changing employment landscape and such changes are directly affecting the future demand for skills. For regional economies built on labour migration, the impending changes will affect migrants and their families, their countries of origin and the recruitment systems they are attached to – and ultimately disrupt the development benefits of migration. This paper investigates how the future of the employment landscape will affect migration within the Abu Dhabi Dialogue, a regional consultative process for migration in Asia. It investigates the impending changes in the demand for skills in countries of destination, how such changes will affect migration processes and whether countries of origin are ready for the changes. It provides recommendations on how regional consultative processes can foster dialogue between key actors from both countries of origin and destination to better navigate future changes and ensure a smooth transition.
The case study of Bangladesh focuses on trade facilitation, which is an area of increasing priority in the broader aid-for-trade agenda. The study provides a template for an aid-fortrade facilitation results framework, an assessment of the human and institutional capacity required to implement such a framework, and suggestions on how to introduce it in a manner that promotes mutual accountability between the executing agencies and donors active in Bangladesh. In assessing four trade facilitation projects in Bangladesh, the study finds that some performance indicators were used, although they were mainly selected by the donors. Furthermore, the indicators were not closely related to programme outcomes and impacts. Thus, the study argues that the trade-related results framework needs to be more broad-based and also include trade facilitation specific indicators, such as those developed, amongst others, by multilateral organisations. Finally, the study suggests that the recommended trade facilitation results-based framework not only is useful for Bangladesh, but also for trade facilitation projects in other developing countries with similar levels of trade and logistics capacity.
Bangladesh is ready to shift to a new development phase. This chapter discusses the government's long-term vision, the policies for economic transformation, and clarifies the priorities in moving forward. To meet its aspirations of achieving high-income status by 2041, Bangladesh needs to future-proof the state and endow it with up to date operational and implementation capacities. It also needs to update its international partnerships to ensure a sustainable and smooth graduation from the LDC status. Moreover, it should update the policy toolbox to foster a diversified, innovative, and green industry. The government has an important reform agenda ahead; the private sector and international partners will be instrumental in enabling Bangladesh to continue to succeed.
In May 2016, the World Humanitarian Summit represented a turning point for humanitarian policies. The Summit gave the impetus to seriously reflect on how to operate in environments where people’s needs don’t coincide anymore with existing mandates and sectors. The OECD believes that an effective humanitarian response is the one that addresses affected people’s needs in a timely and efficient manner. One way to measure effectiveness is to ask aid beneficiaries what they think about the aid they get. With this is mind, the OECD initiated a first round of surveys during the cycle 2016-2017 in six countries affected by different type of crisis : Lebanon, Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Somalia and Uganda. Two years after the World humanitarian Summit, the OECD and Ground Truth Solutions took another round of surveys in the same countries, plus Bangladesh. The purpose of this second round of surveys is to assess whether the commitments made at the World Humanitarian Summit, including the Grand Bargain, are having a tangible impact on people’s lives in the most difficult contexts in the world. This paper provides some answers to this question.
In 1995/96, 47.5 per cent of the population of Bangladesh were still living below the poverty line. While this represents a decline compared to 62.6 per cent in 1983/84, the absolute number of poor people has in fact increased over the same period. This paper argues that the persistence of poverty in Bangladesh originates less in the lack of resources for its alleviation than in the failures of governance.
These failures consist of a lack of a developmental vision, absence of a commitment that goes beyond rhetoric and that could translate the vision into policies and programmes, and weak capacities at the administrative, technical and political levels to implement such programmes. As a corollary of these failures, successive governments have surrendered ownership over national policy agendas in the field of poverty alleviation to international donors and NGOs. Furthermore, different areas of policy–making have been appropriated by special interest groups pursuing sectional concerns ...
The current global economic and political landscape is marked by turbulence, complexity, and rapid change. Governments, businesses and societies are striving to comprehend the ongoing technological, digital, and industrial reorganisation processes and their profound potential impacts on the economy and society. In a time where it is evident that growth is a necessary but not sufficient condition for development, and incentives are required to ensure inclusive and sustainable growth, the planning and execution of strategies for economic transformation are of paramount importance.
As part of the peer review of the Netherlands, a team of examiners from Ireland and Sweden visited Bangladesh in November 2016. The team met with officials from the government of Bangladesh and the embassy of the Netherlands, a parliamentarian, other bilateral providers, representatives from Dutch and Bangladeshi businesses and civil society organisations, multilateral agencies and knowledge partners.