Bangladesh, a low income country, has lately been successful in accelerating the rate of economic growth. There is a special significance for Bangladesh to make the transition to the middle income country (MIC) status. Not only does it imply that Bangladesh can sustain and perhaps escalate the growth rate and thus, can achieve “growth-mediated” development with active public policies, but it also strengthens self-confidence and elicits recognition and respect from other countries and institutions.
After examining the trend of recent growth in the Bangladesh economy and also the experience of ten low income countries for the ten years prior to their recent promotion to the MIC status, the author concludes with a well-studied conviction that the country will become a MIC by 2021, if not earlier.
The monograph encapsulates the ideas of a profound and deeply concerned social thinker. He points to the dynamism of the country’s private sector and the capabilities of its workforce. He believes that promoting Bangladesh to an MIC is a pragmatic and constructive way of improving the country’s divisive political environment. The two major parties can have a common rallying banner adopting this as a “National Goal” with commitment towards human development, creative use of expatriates, and reforming regulatory processes.
Title
ক্যান বাংলাদেশ বি এ মিডিল ইনকাম কান্ট্রি উইথইন এ ডিকেড? এ স্টাডি ইন বাংলাদেশ’স গ্রোউথ প্রোসপেক্টস
A.T. Rafiqur Rahman has a Ph. D. in political science from Duke University, USA and is currently a Professor in Public Administration at City University of New York. Beginning with training of public officials at BARD, Comilla, Dr. Rahman acquired over forty-five years of practical work, research and teaching in public management from national and global perspectives. He had been a professor at Dhaka University, an associate Director of Canadian International Development Centre, Deputy Director at UN Secretariat managing UN Public Administration Programme. Rahman has published books, articles and reports on different aspects of public administration. He conceived and led three UN studies in Bangladesh in the 1990s on Public Administration Sector, Local Governance, and Human Security, which were published and critically acclaimed.