Thanks to HSBC Bangladesh, I was privy to a presentation on Asia economic outlook with a special focus on Bangladesh. I must say the Asia chief economist very eloquently pointed out Bangladesh's core competencies in per capita GDP rise and cheap labour vis-à-vis similar emerging and Asia economies.

However, I would politely draw his attention towards the Bangladeshi taka losing more than 30 percent value against the US dollar in recent times and its possible resultant effect on our per capita GDP in USD terms.

I also firmly believe the cheap cost of labour may not help large off-takers to be glued on to Bangladesh for a longer time unless per capita efficiency gradually gets to the centre of the table. Cheap labour in a high inflation-inflicted country may invite a lot of controversies as it goes against the ethos of equality and sustainability of growth.

Issues such as per capita productivity and return per employee are taking lead roles even in redefining national competitiveness.

Then what really helped Bangladesh to come to a level where it stands today? Of course, our liberation war made us an independent country. Several factors that have contributed to our economic growth include the rise of Bangladeshi private entrepreneurship, women entrepreneurs in rural areas, conducive domestic and global policy regimes, and integration of the economy with major global markets, and the competitiveness in the global apparel supply chain.

Other factors are more migration of blue-collar workers to the Gulf, Far East and Europe, increased inward remittances through them, a forward-looking bureaucracy with so many North America-educated freedom fighter civil servants delineating the policy regime of the independent country and subsequently helping it to take more market-friendly direction.

Various incentives and subsidies provided to the local entrepreneurs, higher entry of women to the workforce, reaping the LDC-linked trade benefits and to some extent, the demographic dividend, contributed to the steady economic expansion.

Government and NGOs have also worked successfully in lifting millions out of poverty, creating synergy at the 'bottom of the pyramid' by extending micro-credit and building up rural health and education infrastructure. Success through poverty reduction and per capita income increase have also helped growth.

Why may things be different going forward? Bangladesh is going to be graduating to a developing country by 2026. It aspires to be a higher-middle-income country by 2031 and a developed country by 2041.

With LDC graduation, the country will lose many preferential benefits from the developed world and multilateral agencies. In the meantime, geopolitics has changed, and more and more emerging nations are competing to grab a bigger pie of global trade and have greater access to capital.

We would all agree that with learning from the North American meltdown, the Middle Eastern crisis, and difficulties in the Far East, the rules of the game are changing fast. This change is also being driven by the change in the technological world. Our poor-quality education and multi-streams of educational systems (Bangla, English and madrasa mediums) are not helping us reap the benefit of 'one nation'.

Above and beyond comes the quality of human resources in public and private sectors, including political parties. Increasing outbound migration is further widening the talent gap.

Growing political and social intolerance, along with policy paralysis and institutional failures, is creating several road cracks towards the highway.

High inflation, volatility in the exchange rate and interest rate regime, ad-hoc decisions on the overall financial management with a fragile banking sector and under-developed capital market, weak project management and failure to take strong actions against large groups, crony capitalism, corruption, random capital flight and tax evasion may rather jeopardise our future journey.

The author is an economic analyst.