Weekly Bangladesh Policy Outlook: Analysis, Truth, Debate.
Dhaka floods after thirty to forty millimetres of rain. A capital of over twenty million people, built on the world’s largest delta, submerges under the modest downpour that any functioning monsoon city should absorb without incident. This is not an act of nature. It is the accumulated consequence of a century and a half of…
Bangladesh’s economy has demonstrated resilience over several decades despite global economic shocks, domestic inflationary pressures, exchange-rate adjustments, and financial sector challenges. Recent data published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) indicate that the economy continues to expand, although at a slower pace than its long-term average, while inflation and business confidence remain important concerns. …
The rapid diffusion of generative artificial intelligence tools into everyday academic life has confronted Bangladesh’s education system with a challenge it is poorly equipped to meet. From primary schools anchored in rote memorization to university departments where theory still outpaces practice, the gap between technological reality and curriculum preparedness has grown unmistakably wide. Recognizing this…
Bangladesh’s Penal Code of 1860 retains a colonial-era provision on adultery that is increasingly difficult to reconcile with the country’s constitutional commitments to equality and non-discrimination. Section 497, as it currently stands, not only fails to protect the very individuals it claims to serve but actively perpetuates gender-based legal inequality with far-reaching social consequences. The…
This article examines a recurring pattern in Bangladesh’s cultural life: the state’s tendency to honour its artists only after they have died. Using the examples of Azam Khan, Ayub Bacchu, Helal Hafiz, and Rudra Mohammad Shahidullah, it questions why recognition so often arrives as a postscript rather than a timely tribute, and what this delay…
Purpose The purpose of this report is to assess how Bangladesh can strengthen cross-border memoranda of understanding and non-disclosure agreements used in international trade, brokerage, technology transfer and foreign investment. It considers legal enforceability alongside counterparty verification, trade execution, payment security, information governance and international dispute resolution. Executive summary MOUs and NDAs should be treated…
Read More “Bankable by Design: Strengthening Cross-Border MOUs and NDAs in Bangladesh” »
A Demographic Shift That Demands Attention Bangladesh is entering a demographic transition that requires urgent attention. Around ten percent of its population (nearly sixteen million people) is now aged sixty or older. By 2050, senior citizens are expected to make up more than twenty percent of the population, exceeding thirty-five million people. Yet the country…
Read More “Ageing with Dignity: Rethinking Elderly Care in Bangladesh” »
The flooding of 7,400 fish farms and ponds across Chattogram, with losses already exceeding Tk 39 crore, is not merely a seasonal misfortune. It is a structural reminder that Bangladesh’s fisheries sector, its second-largest export earner after garments, operates on foundations that cannot withstand the climate realities now upon the country. The damage figure, as…
Read More “Impact of July 2026 Floods on the Fisheries Industry” »
The proposal to merge Bangladesh’s four principal investment agencies, the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority, the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority, and the Public-Private Partnership Authority, into a single body called the Unified Investment Development Authority (UIDA) is being pitched as a structural reform that will simplify investor services, reduce bureaucratic fragmentation,…
Read More “Investment Agency Merger in Bangladesh: Too Big to Fail?” »
The July floods have once again demonstrated the vulnerability of many regions of Bangladesh to widespread flooding and its associated public health consequences. While immediate rescue and humanitarian assistance are essential, the period following a flood often presents even greater health risks due to contaminated water, disease outbreaks, food insecurity, disrupted healthcare services, and deteriorating…
