Bangladesh in Crisis: Which way out?

This piece is not about the crisis or the chaos that the country is now facing after successfully toppling the autocratic regime of Sheikh Hasina. Rather, it is about the crisis of confidence and social capital or trust — interlinked, nonetheless.

New Approaches Urgently Needed to Tackle Resurgent Social Crises

Despite uneven economic recovery since the pandemic, poverty, inequality, and food insecurity continue to worsen, including in the Asia-Pacific region, which used to fare better than the rest of the Global South.

Western Finance Ruining Economies of the Rest

Western financial policies have been squeezing economies worldwide. After being urged to borrow commercial finance heavily, developing countries now struggle with contractionary Western monetary policies.

World Inequality Still Rising Despite Some Convergence

Despite earlier income convergence among nations, many low-income countries (LICs) and people are falling further behind. Worse, the number of poor and hungry has been increasing again after declining for decades.

IMF isn’t doing enough to support Africa: billions could be made available through special drawing rights

At the 2021 UN Climate Summit, Barbados prime minister Mia Mottley called for more and better use of special drawing rights (SDRs), the International Monetary Fund’s reserve asset.

Civil Society Fights Against Budget Cuts Amid Calls for “Aid” Reform

Multiple conflicts, the climate emergency and other crises are destabilising many parts of the world and intensifying the strain on the resources needed to finance the global sustainable development agenda. Amid these challenges, data from 2023, shows that Official Development Assistance (ODA) reached a record-breaking US$223.7 billion, up from US$211 billion the previous year, according to Eurodad.

IPEF: Much Ado about Nothing

After 2.5 years, US President Joe Biden’s Indo-Pacific Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) is increasingly irrelevant due to its own limitations and broader US foreign policy shifts.

To Put a Stop to Siphoning off Money, Start with Data

The commonly used Bangla phrase for siphoning off money out of the country – “taka pachar” – is rather misleading. Because taka, the Bangladeshi currency, is never taken out of Bangladesh. It’s not useful anywhere else. What goes out is its equivalence in foreign currencies, especially, US dollars. The technical term for such criminal act is Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs). Mistakenly, sometimes IFFs are referred to as money laundering – a processing of criminal proceeds to disguise their illegal origin.

Odious Debts: What Can Bangladesh Learn from Ecuador?

Bangladesh’s White Paper committee will review foreign loan deals signed by the fallen kleptocratic regime. We recommend that it identifies and declares the loans or portions of loans that did not benefit the nation as unpayable, because they were siphoned off the country by corrupt politically powerful elites, or worse used to buy deadly weapons and surveillance equipment to oppress people. Such loans are “odious” – they stink and are detestable.

The Global South in the New Cold War

Marginalised and dominated economically by the Global North, developing countries must urgently cooperate to better strive for their shared interests in achieving world peace and sustainable development.

Recovering stolen assets: No weakening of resolve

The White Paper on the state of Bangladesh’s economy will include a review of “smuggled money”, according to the head of the committee, Debapriya Bhattacharya, entrusted to prepare the White Paper.

Recovering Bangladesh’s Stolen Wealth

Bangladesh bleeds as over US$3 billion drains from Bangladesh annually through offshore accounts. According to a recent report, close to US$150 billion was siphoned off the country during 15 years of kleptocratic Hasina regime’s mis-rule. Nearly US$50 billion went out of the country in the first six years (2009-2015) of the Hasina regime.

Dealing with Bangladesh’s Odious Debt

Bangladesh has become increasingly indebted since 2009. The country’s external debt stock increased from US$23.3 billion in 2008 to US$100.6 billion in December 2023 (see figure below). Thanks to the country’s mega-projects led so-called development with borrowed money under the now deposed authoritarian regime of Sheikh Hasina.

Handling Financial Crises in the South

When history repeats itself, the first time is a tragedy; the next is a farce. If we fail to learn from past financial crises, we risk making avoidable errors, often with irreversible, even tragic consequences.

Nigeria: Why #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria Protests Gained Traction

Thousands of Nigerians have taken to the streets to protest against bad governance, corruption, soaring inflation, and the rising cost of living, in what has been termed "10 Days of Rage" and believed to mirror Kenyan protests organized by the youth. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and a major exporter of crude oil, citizens claim that the benefits of the country's resources do not trickle down to the masses but to a group of corrupt politicians.

The Demise of Democracy and Human Rights Violations in Bangladesh: International Financial Institutions’ Culpability

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) are complicit in the gross human rights violations and death of democracy in Bangladesh. They continued to supply financial blood line to the regime, well-documented for its corruptions, human rights violations – such as forced disappearances and tortures in custody – and riggings of votes, including politicization of state institutions in its slide into autocracy. This is despite their professed commitment to transparency, accountability and good governance (IMF, World Bank, ADB).

More Poverty for the Poor

Many low-income countries (LICs) continue to slip further behind the rest of the world. Meanwhile, people in extreme poverty have been increasing again after decades of decline.

Kenya’s Protests: More than a Question of Tax

Kenya’s President William Ruto has withdrawn the tax-increasing Finance Bill that sparked mass protests. He has sacked his cabinet and the head of the police has resigned. But the anger many feel hasn’t gone away, and protests continue. The protests have brought Kenya’s Gen Z onto the political stage, with young people – over 65 per cent of the population – at the forefront. Since the protests began, they’ve made full use of social media to share views, explain the impact of proposed changes, organise protests and raise funds to help those injured or arrested.

US Fed- Induced World Stagnation Deepens Debt Distress

For some time, most multilateral financial institutions have urged developing countries to borrow commercially, but not from China. Now, borrowers are stuck in debt traps with little prospect of escape.

A Bleak Future 50 Years after the New International Economic ‘Non-order’?

Fifty years ago on 1 May 1974, the Sixth Special Session of the General Assembly (April–May) adopted a revolutionary declaration and programme of action on the establishment of a New International Economic Order (NIEO) “based on equity, sovereign equality, interdependence, common interest and cooperation among all States, irrespective of their economic and social systems”. The hope was that a NIEO would “correct inequalities and redress existing injustices, make it possible to eliminate the widening gap between the developed and the developing countries and ensure steadily accelerating economic and social development and peace and justice for present and future generations”. Alas, what evolved is far from what was envisioned or called for.

Youth-Led Protests Force Kenyan President’s Hand Over Tax Bill

In a historic first, Kenya's youth have mobilized in large-scale protests to demand that the political establishment listen to them. The Finance Bill 2024, which proposed new taxes across several sectors, was the catalyst for the protests, igniting outrage among a youth demographic that feels betrayed by decades of political promises. These protests, driven by economic and social grievances, escalated dramatically, culminating in clashes with police that led to numerous deaths and widespread unrest.