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COLUMN

Vision amid depression

Habibuuaii N Karim
The call of the present government to work towards a 'Digital Bangladesh by 2021' stands on the vision of an equitable economic prosperity being armed with an educated workforce and a just society based on ride of law
That's a beautiful vision that no citizen in his right mind will contest. 1 iowever, what we are seeing all around us negates all that. If morning shows the day then the inauspicious countdown to vision 2021 leaves us all vulnerable and shell-shocked for now.
The unbearable water and electricity crisis during this peak summertime, the ever-escalating traffic jams and never-ending car queues at CNG filling stations, the continuing violence on campuses and insolent posturing by criminal dons under protection of ruling-party affiliates, the return of expatriate workers in torrents making daily headlines, garments and other exports feeling the pinch of global recession and a parliament that devotes more time to protecting the pork-barrel provisions of the parliamentarians and their power turfs than discussing the acute needs of the nation and you have pretty much all the ingredients of a nation sinking into chronic depression.
But this does not have to be so. Just a few months ago despite all the economic and civic utility woes (sans the political hooliganism), the people of this country voted the AL to overwhelming majority in the parliament because they wanted to believe in the vision of a better Bangladesh and they wanted to see the AL sow the seeds of that vision right from the get go. While three-and-a-half months is nowhere near the time necessary to right the course of this nation, the citizens want to see some proactive deeds in good faith that will show them that the government means business when it comes to charting our destiny towards vision 2021.
On the global front most of the world may be in recession and the global GDP may be shrinking but we still have a robust economic engine that is projected to eke out a growth rate of around 5percent this year and next. Bangladesh has nearly tripled its GDP since 1990 and its per capita GDP today is only a quarter short of the midincome economy band.
On the other hand, although we happen to be the 7th most populous country in the world, our economic output puts us at a distant 59th posi tion (World Bank 2008 data) However, in terms of economic growth we rank 27th in the world now and in the course of next two years that ranking is expected to improve a bit if we hold on to the 5percent growth mark as the world economy ebbs under recession.
Based on the growth trends of our economy and the aging trend of our population, experts estimate that by 2050 Bangladesh will be one of the top 25 economies of the world (contributors to Wikipedia put us at rank 22 in 2050). Of course that's a bit far off and the modern day economic paradigms may or may not hold that far into the future but at least that could be a base ground of hope for this nation. Working backwards from this base ground we just have to see how we could move the year-peg forward to say 2040 for the same or better economic achievement. 2040 is only 30 years away. Someone entering the labour pool of the country today will still be working and hopefully will see the results of his/her labour turning the country into an economic powerhouse by then.
While the whole world is captivated by the economic and political clout of the G7 block, for us Bangladeshis there are two other exclusive blocks or clubs that we can strive for one is the G20 i.e„ becoming a member of the elite group of the global top 20 economies of the world (quite achievable by 2040 as said earlier) and the other is E7 i.e., the emerging 7 economies of the world as categorised by Price Waters Coopers (PWC). Currently the E7 includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey.
If Bangladesh can maintain and improve upon its economic growth rate in the next five years that will encourage PWC to include us in an expanded group of fast emerging economies. These are not pies in the sky but realistically quite achievable targets if we properly plan and execute that blueprint even with our own resources. Now it's up to the government of the day to take the obvious steps in realising this vision, which they themselves proffered to the nation. Please don't make us lose hope rather help us believe in this vision of a better Bangladesh for all.
The writer is the founder CEO of Technohaven Company Ltd and president of the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS). He welcomes feedback at hnkarim@gmail.com