Zahid Hussain

Dr Zahid Hussain is former lead economist of the World Bank’s Dhaka office.

Where are we heading?

By bringing down a despotic leviathan, the anti-discrimination student movement has earned the moral authority to be spokespersons for the whole nation

1m ago

Rebooting the economy

The crackdown on the nonviolent uprise of the students and the subsequent one thing leading to another chain of events locked down the economy, only figuratively reminiscent of the pandemic in 2020

2m ago

Not much beyond lip service

In their Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) for the first half of FY25, Bangladesh Bank (BB) has stuck to the policy stance already in place. 

2m ago

Not much beyond lip service 

Let’s begin with the central question to gauge what more this MPS could have done to increase the potency of monetary policy in restoring macro-financial stability. 

2m ago

Export data correction was long overdue

Bangladesh Bank’s latest data on the balance of payments has remarkably altered the narrative on the drivers of external stress without changing the signal on the overall stress.

2m ago

Making sense of revisions in balance of payments

Bangladesh Bank's latest data on the balance of payments has remarkably altered the narrative on the drivers of external stress without changing the signal on the overall stress. The bottom line on persistent external imbalance remains pretty much the same but the composition is palpably different

3m ago

A post-election defining moment

The economy has been in a rough patch since 2022 like never before in the past decade and a half

4m ago

Fifty years of learning from rises and slips in the Bangladesh economy

We are hubristically living through our ecological implosion.

5m ago
August 17, 2024
August 17, 2024

Where are we heading?

By bringing down a despotic leviathan, the anti-discrimination student movement has earned the moral authority to be spokespersons for the whole nation

July 31, 2024
July 31, 2024

Rebooting the economy

The crackdown on the nonviolent uprise of the students and the subsequent one thing leading to another chain of events locked down the economy, only figuratively reminiscent of the pandemic in 2020

July 19, 2024
July 19, 2024

Not much beyond lip service

In their Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) for the first half of FY25, Bangladesh Bank (BB) has stuck to the policy stance already in place. 

July 18, 2024
July 18, 2024

Not much beyond lip service 

Let’s begin with the central question to gauge what more this MPS could have done to increase the potency of monetary policy in restoring macro-financial stability. 

July 7, 2024
July 7, 2024

Export data correction was long overdue

Bangladesh Bank’s latest data on the balance of payments has remarkably altered the narrative on the drivers of external stress without changing the signal on the overall stress.

July 5, 2024
July 5, 2024

Making sense of revisions in balance of payments

Bangladesh Bank's latest data on the balance of payments has remarkably altered the narrative on the drivers of external stress without changing the signal on the overall stress. The bottom line on persistent external imbalance remains pretty much the same but the composition is palpably different

June 5, 2024
June 5, 2024

A post-election defining moment

The economy has been in a rough patch since 2022 like never before in the past decade and a half

April 23, 2024
April 23, 2024

Fifty years of learning from rises and slips in the Bangladesh economy

We are hubristically living through our ecological implosion.

February 19, 2024
February 19, 2024

Inflation’s obduracy reflects the inadequacies of the policy response

The spike in inflation from 9.41 percent in December to 9.86 percent in January was driven entirely by the rise in non-food inflation.

January 30, 2024
January 30, 2024

Labour market in a low gear

Bangladesh has delivered decent economic growth relative to the rest of the globe braving the coronavirus pandemic, supply chain disruptions, successive wars and macroeconomic stress. However, labour market recovery since the pandemic has been anemic. There are lingering concerns about growth lacking the shine of good jobs.