No miracle happened behind economic growth of Bangladesh: economists

Economists at a book launching ceremony on Thursday observed that no miracle happened behind the economic growth of Bangladesh.

They mentioned that farmers, industrial workers especially garment workers and Bangladeshi migrants working abroad were the main drivers of the economic development of Bangladesh in the first 50 years of independence of the nation.

However, their contribution to the growth will not remain the same in the coming years' growth trajectory, they opined.

The economists made the observation at the lunching function of the book "Fifty years of Bangladesh: economy, politics, society and Culture," at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in the city.

The book, published by Routledge of London in November 2023, portrays the multi-faceted dimensions of Bangladesh's development journey, its economic and social transformation and political and cultural contestations.

The book presents new empirical data supplemented with critical analysis of processes, actors and actions that have been the drivers of Bangladesh's transformation.

Organised in six sections, the book provides a multi-disciplinary, holistic and interrelated narrative of the Bangladesh story.

At the launch today, Hossain Zillur Rahman, executive chairman of the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) and former adviser to the caretaker government, said apart from the economic driving force, some other factors have played an influential role in the development of the country.

"That is the revolution of human personality. It is the tendency of humans to survive or fight against the odds. Due to this trend, the people of the country are moving forward," he added.

Rizwanul Islam, a former special adviser on the employment sector at the International Labour Office in Geneva, said no miracle happened behind the economic growth of Bangladesh.

Moreover, it was the labour who played the major role to achieve GDP growth, he added.

With the help of highly productive rice seed, he said, the agricultural sector played a big role in the high gross domestic product growth.

The revolution has taken place silently, he said, adding that industrial workers and remittances sent by migrant workers from abroad played the key role.

Professor Rehman Sobhan, chairman of the CPD; Selim Raihan, executive director of the South Asian Network of Economic Modelling and one of the writers of the book, Mustafizur Rahman, a distinguished fellow of the CPD, and Zahid Hussain, a former lead economist of the World Bank's Dhaka office, also talked at the event.