That Bangladesh's economy grew by only 1.81% in the first quarter of the current fiscal year should not be a surprise and yet, we cannot simply turn a blind eye to just how challenging Bangladesh's economic recovery is going to be amid the current political uncertainty.
While the events of July and August of 2024 will forever be an indelible part of Bangladesh history, bringing about the fall of a regime which had all but abandoned any democratic norms and principles, we cannot deny that there continue to be consequences for those actions.
While this is the slowest expansion in close to four years, with Covid-19 undoubtedly being responsible for the slowdown previously, this is no time for reactionary policies.
Instead, the current interim government, and indeed subsequent administrations post election, should work to bring stability to the economy, not have policies that see spikes in growth rate without it helping the people.
The previous regime had rightfully been criticized for prioritizing growth over not only ensuring democratic rights, but also for abandoning equity and well-being for the majority of the population.
At present, the economy has slowed down and while it is important to continue our efforts to bring reform to the many sectors that had been left in a dire state by the former administration, we also cannot completely abandon the notion of achieving economic growth as well.
It has been said repeatedly that the interim government faces among the toughest challenges ever presented to an administration in this country’s history. The need to balance growth with reforms is a challenge that it must not only accept, but for the future of this nation, also succeed in overcoming.
