Bangladesh's economy is not collapsing but undergoing a necessary reset

"By confronting the damage left by the previous administration, the interim government has set the economy on a path of stabilisation, not collapse. The recent wave of pessimism surrounding Bangladesh's economy under its interim administration, much of it amplified by selectively framed local commentary, offers an incomplete and often misleading portrait of the country's actual economic trajectory. Much of this concern is overstated, as the headline indicators reflect a necessary structural correction rather than an economic collapse."

"The claim that the new government is inheriting a crippled economy overlooks the fact that the previous administration left behind a financial system that resembled a house of cards, propped up by manipulated data and systematic concealment of risk. To portray the current economy as stagnant is to ignore Bangladesh's longer arc of resilience in South Asia. Despite the global shocks that followed COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war, the country delivered stronger growth than most of its regional peers."

Interim government confronted damage left by the previous administration and set a path toward macroeconomic stabilisation rather than collapse. Elevated inflation and a weakened banking sector present serious challenges but reflect corrective adjustments, not systemic failure. The previous administration left a fragile financial system sustained by manipulated data and concealed risks, exposing long-buried weaknesses through rising nonperforming loans. Slower growth follows deliberate fiscal tightening after years of excess, not an irreversible downturn. Historic growth rates were 3.5% in 2020, 6.9% in 2021, and 7.1% in 2022, indicating prior resilience amid global shocks.

Read at www.aljazeera.com