To ensure that phasing out these support measures does not affect progress, the country needs mainstream graduation into an industrial policy framework by gradually building up competitiveness, says Giovanni Valensisi, economic affairs officer of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Bangladesh also needs to focus on science, technology and innovation, the economist said while speaking at the virtual launching of UNCTAD LDC Report 2021 on Monday. Average labour productivity in Bangladesh between 1995 and 2018 has grown at approximately 6% per year and manufacturing was critical to this as it displayed “within sector productivity growth which was fairly significant”. Among others, UN Resident Coordinator for Bangladesh Mia Seppo and Rolf Traeger, chief of LDC Section at UNCTAD, also spoke at the event. The LDC Report 2021 will officially go live at 11pm on Monday.

Source: Dhaka Tribune September 27, 2021 13:52 UTC