report on bdnews24.com, Mar 17, 2018
The UN says Bangladesh has fulfilled the eligibility requirements to graduate from ‘Least Developed Country’ to ‘Developing Country’ status and can seek official approval for the advance.
The UN Committee for Development Policy (CPD) gave a letter announcing Bangladesh’s eligibility for graduation to the Bangladesh Permanent Ambassador to the UN Masud Bin Momen on Friday evening in New York.
This begins the graduation process for Bangladesh, which could receive official Developing Country status by 2024.
According to the UN website, Bangladesh met the requirements in March, 2018.
Bangladesh has been on the UN Least Developed Countries (LDC) list since 1975.
Graduation depends upon meeting eligibility criteria scores in Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, the Human Assets Index (HAI) and the Economic Vulnerability (EVI) Index and other country-specific information.
The scores required for graduation from the LDC category are a per capita GNI of $1,230 or above, an HAI of 66 or above and an EVI of 32 or below.
Bangladesh’s current GNI per capita is $1,724, its HAI is 72 and its 25.2.
Government officials, including Finance Minister AMA Muhith are hopeful that if Bangladesh remains on track, Bangladesh will have no problems graduating in 2024.
Though Developing Country status would increase Bangladesh’s bargaining power, the loss of LDC status also comes with a loss in several economic supports and benefits.
Economists say that the challenges can be met through proper planning and implementation of policy.
In July 2015 Bangladesh advanced from a lower income country to a lower-middle income country based on the per capita income categories provided by the World Bank.
https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2018/03/17/bangladesh-eligible-for-un-developing-country-status
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