Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina: “Bangladesh had already reined in the figure to 22.4%, from 56.7% in 1991.”

Reuters/Dhaka

Bangladesh aims to cut its poverty rate to less than 14% by 2021 from 22.4% now, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said, as the country sets it sights on becoming a middle-income nation.
Hasina was speaking at the opening of a two-day meeting where Bangladesh will seek up to $12bn in assistance from funding partners to develop its ramshackle infrastructure. “We set a target to reduce the rate of poverty below 14% by 2021, when we also expect to become a middle-income country,” Hasina said on Sunday, adding that Bangladesh had already reined in the figure to 22.4%, from 56.7% in 1991.
About 23% of the population of nearly 160mn falls below the poverty line, with a daily income of less than $2 a day.
Bangladesh now spends only 2 to 3% of GDP on such investment, but needs to invest up to 12% to achieve the target of becoming a middle-income country, senior finance ministry official Mohammad Mejbahuddin said.
“We will place our requirements to them to ensure infrastructure development to become a middle-income country by 2021,” he told reporters.
Bangladesh wants to boost investment in infrastructure development by up to six times from current figures in its quest for annual economic growth of 8%, said Matlub Ahmed, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
About 40 representatives of bodies such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Monetary Fund, the US Agency for International Development, the Department for International Development, the European Union and the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) attended the event.
Wencai Zhang, vice president of ADB, told reporters that the bank would provide $5bn in assistance to Bangladesh over the next three years for plans including an industrial project and building an IT park. Early in July, the World Bank upgraded Bangladesh to its category of lower middle-income nations from its earlier status as a least developed country (LDCs).
But the development partners want the government’s commitment to good governance, so as to assure the most effective outcome of the assistance they provide.
“We believe good governance improves the cost-effective delivery of public goods and services and broadens inclusiveness,” said Kazuhiko Higuchi, the ADB country director.
Hasina said her government had chalked out a five-year plan to achieve its vision of middle-income status for Bangladesh. One of the officials at the meeting, Kingo Toyoda, deputy director general of Japan’s foreign affairs ministry, said his country would continue to co-operate with Bangladesh, but urged it to ensure the safety of visiting Japanese citizens.
A Japanese national in October became the second foreign national to be killed in the South Asian nation, with Islamic State claiming responsibility. “We want to invest more and our entrepreneurs are enthusiastic,” Toyoda said. “But the security of Japanese citizens is very important and we urge the government to ensure it.”
Japan, which has contributed about $11.5bn that includes loan, grants and technical assistance since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, has committed assistance of $4.89bn over the next four to five years, and JICA is the country’s largest bilateral development partner.