Bilal9
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Completely agree with everything on the above ^^^
When my dad visited China in 2005 and 2006, her per capita income (both nominal and PPP) was similar to that of what Bangladesh is right now (around $2200 usd). But China had a 95% literacy rate, much better state schools, and had things like SMIC, Huawei, AVIC etc (IE, fully industrialized).
Couple that with possibly the most meritocratic and technocratic (Chinese politbureau are mostly composed of STEM grads, the people you want to be in charge of industrial policies), you're set up for sustained high rates of growth over the decades. It's slowing down now, but even 5-6% growth of an almost $16 dollar economy is no joke.
Bangladesh's "golden" period of growth was the 2010s. She achieved 7%+ growth rates only in 2016, 2017, 2017, and 2019. She did okay in 2020 during the pandemic. 2021 could've been far worse too. But she doesn't have the mechanism of a consistent 8%+ growth rate for decades like China did. Even if we did, as Bilal bhai once said, we don't deserve it, because we're not that civilized.
BTW I also think China has a very high probability of breaking the middle-income trap. Even the IMF project a per capita income of $17,000 by 2026, which puts them firmly into the higher income category. And that's based on 5% growth rates. They're likely to grow even faster. Especially when I'm there, working in their special economic zones haha (though for an Anglo American company)
The thing that propelled China upward is discipline, discipline and discipline. One more time - discipline. I've been to China and to Bangladesh and India. Those are stark reminders when I'm back home. India is better than Bangladesh in this regard, maybe because of marginally better educated middle and lower middle class.
If we can't educate our people, then in the short term some Military danda is inevitable. Case in point, Dhaka Mayor Atiqul Huq could not get industrialists to de-encroach on all the canals in Dhaka, so he enlisted help from the Army. A sad state of affairs and a narrative that spells out such poor state of our governance...same like BIWTA trying to re-claim all the river embankments from illegal encroachers, mostly govt. bigwigs and MP's. These are supposedly the highest civil servants and administrators in our governance structure. This is what happens when you elect uneducated people to run the country. Not talking about the Mannans and Nasrul Hamids in the cabinet, talking about uneducated people like Obaidul Quader et al.
We sorely lack discipline in the subcontinent, because of an uneducated electorate and an uneducated leadership based on thuggery and rule of gun as opposed to rule of law - especially in Bangladesh, But India is close on our heels now and will exceed us soon, with their uneducated PM and goons in their cabinet. Feudalism and Chori-Seenajory principle all around. Bangladesh is the worst.
High GDP and income level will not sustain Bangladesh, even if achieved (hope riding on the wings of a prayer). We need a skilled, law-abiding and educated populace.
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