
Selim Raihan
The writer is Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Executive Director, South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM). Email: selim.raihan@econdu.ac.bd
The writer is Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Executive Director, South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM). Email: selim.raihan@econdu.ac.bd
In Bangladesh, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have heterogeneous characteristics, which are evident from their diverse business activities. However, the discussion on SMEs has a fundamental problem related to the definition and scope.
Around a year and a half have passed since the onset of the Covid crisis.
This year’s national budget will be the second to be implemented amid the ongoing unprecedented economic and social crisis brought on by Covid-19.
In Bangladesh, despite the gradual rise in the investment-GDP ratio over the past three decades, private sector investment, in proportion to GDP, had remained stagnant for years even before the onset of Covid-19. The Covid-19 crisis intensified the problem.
Covid-19 deeply affected the labour market in Bangladesh. It intensified some of the existing challenges and brought about a new set of problems. A large number of people either lost employment or income and many are also experiencing intense job insecurity and uncertainty.
Academics, policymakers and other stakeholders in the Bay of Bengal region and beyond agree on the need for greater integration in this region.
Despite signs of recovery in the economy, there is no denying the fact that the impact of Covid-19 on the labour market can be far reaching.
The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented rise in poverty in Bangladesh in a very short time span.
As the Covid-19 pandemic left a deep dent on the development trajectories of Bangladesh, the country must set its development priorities right in 2021. Bangladesh aims to achieve the stiff Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, and it aspires to become an upper-middle-income country by 2031.
Covid-19 has generated hugely distressing effects on the economy of Bangladesh.