Bangladesh slipped one place to 177 in the Doing Business rankings for 2018. This is the second lowest among South Asian economies (Afghanistan is at 183). The country’s dismal performance on the doing business indicators is attributable to the absence of meaningful reforms in Bangladesh. The...

Bangladesh’s export growth has been remarkable. Bangladesh aims to generate $54.1 billion in export earnings by FY2020, a significant increase over the $35 billion earned in FY2015-16. The leading sector, textiles and apparels, usually referred to as ready-made garments (RMG), has created 4...

Bangladesh has set up an ambitious target of attaining middle-income status by 2021. To achieve this objective, the economy needs to grow at a sustained rate of 7.5-8 percent annually and this would in turn require an increase in private investment to at least 26.6 percent of GDP from 22 percent...

Tariff modernization will help Bangladesh diversify its export basket. Tariff modernization is at the crux of input competitiveness for efficient manufacturing given that more than 90 percent of the raw material for exportable goods are imported in Bangladesh and the other export incentives like...

The government recognizes that inadequate basic infrastructure and a severe shortage of accessible land discourages greenfield investments and industrial development.Bangladesh has one of the world’s most cost competitive, sizeable supply of labor, ideal for labor-intensive production in...

Improving student learning is now the most pressing education challenge facing Lao PDR. While Lao PDR has made impressive advancements in providing children with schooling, levels of student learning have remained low and the quality of education delivery is poor. In 2017, the World Bank...

The imbalance between the costs and benefits of DCFTAs is a call to the EU to display greater thoughtfulness and pragmatism if it does not want to lose support for reforms in its neighbourhood. What has to happen so that their potential can be more beneficial? The Policy Brief written by Amat...

Following the 'Maidan revolution' of February 2014, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) abandoned the exchange rate peg to the US dollar and switched to a flexible exchange rate, which was later formalised within the framework of the newly adopted inflation targeting regime. Our analysis suggests...