Bangladesh's per capita income would reach $12,000 and the size of its economy $2.5 trillion by 2041, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in parliament yesterday.

“By 2041, Bangladesh economy will be the centre of the Asian economy. The country will play a remarkable role in [maintaining] the local supply chain and the global value chain as well as in establishing regional and sub-regional communication and connectivity,” she said in reply to lawmakers' queries.

Hasina noted that the open economic policies of her government would create a new era of success by ensuring a win-win situation for all in the areas of trade, commerce and investment at regional, sub-regional and international levels.

On the per capita income, she said the Kaliakoir Hi-tech Park in Gazipur was being constructed with the aim of creating employment for 1 million people and having an export earning of five billion dollars through the IT sector by 2021.

“We firmly believe the size of Bangladesh economy will be $2.5 trillion and the per capita income would reach $12,000.”

Currently, the per capita income is $1,602 and the size of the economy $245 billion, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data.

Referring to the projection of some global research organisations, the premier said Bangladesh would be the world's 29th largest economy by 2030 and 23rd by 2050 from 31st at present.

Responding to another query, she said the government was making efforts to create more cancer specialists in the country as their number is significantly low compared to that of patients.

“Every year, around two lakh people in the country are falling victim to cancer whereas there is only one physician against every ten lakh people,” she added.

In a scripted answer, the PM also said that considering the costly treatment of the disease, the government gave some charitable organisations the responsibility of providing cancer patients with necessary services at a low price.

In reply to another query, she said her government has conducted a study to explore the labour market in 50 countries, including Australia, Brazil and European countries, and to analyse the market trend in the Middle Eastern countries.

Based on the study report, steps would be taken to identify the prospective areas for manpower export, she said.

The government has already set up safe homes in Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, and in Oman, South Korea and Jordan to ensure safety of female workers. Gradually, more such homes would be built in other countries, Hasina said.

Turning to road communications, she said 55-kilometres of the Dhaka-Khulna highway from Jatrabari to Mawa and Pachhar to Bhanga would be the country's first expressway.

“Construction of the expressway, which would be connected to Padma bridge, would be completed by next year,” she added.