Smooth transition of poor countries: LDC group to seek support for 10 years after graduation

[Black_cats]

Smooth transition of poor countries:
LDC group to seek support for 10 years after graduation
SYFUL ISLAM | Published: September 09, 2020 09:36:19 | Updated: September 09, 2020 11:48:08

Illustrative photo

The group of least developed countries (LDCs) has opted to request the rich nations for extending support measures, available to the graduating LDCs, for at least a period of 10 years after they are excluded from the category, officials said.

The proposal will be placed in line with the UN General Assembly resolution 59/209, which stated the need for creation of "smooth transition strategies for countries graduating from the list of LDCs".

The United Nations, through the resolution number 67/221 of 2012, had called all members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to consider extending the existing special and differential treatment measures and exemptions, available to the graduating countries, for a period appropriate to development situation of the country.

The LDC group, in a draft communication, recently circulated among the member states, referred to the context of the current COVID-19 crisis "which may reverse many of the development progress, achieved so far by the graduating LDCs".

It said since the creation of the category in 1971, only three LDCs have been able to graduate. "The progress accelerated since 2011, and several LDCs are progressively reaching the different graduation thresholds as defined by the UN Committee on Development Policy (CDP)."

"While meeting these criteria remains a major achievement, the graduated LDCs still face significant trade and development challenges and risk of falling back in the LDC category, if their progress is not sustained," it noted.

As they are leaving the LDC category, it is implied that the graduating countries will lose access to a wide range of international support measures, which have often contributed to their socio-economic development.

Such support measures not only take the form of official development assistance but also include a wide range of trade-related measures, such as preferential market access or special and differential treatment provisions in the WTO rules.

"Mitigating the negative impacts associated with the removal of these support measures is therefore essential to ensure a smooth transition away from the LDC category," the group added.

It said practically there are no formal WTO procedures for smooth transition in relation to LDC-specific assistance measures and special and differential treatment provisions as called in the UN resolutions.

"This has put the graduating LDCs in a very difficult situation, not least because of their economic vulnerabilities and their limited capacity to negotiate specific extensions on a case by case basis."

The group in the submission to the WTO ministerial conference, slated for June 2021, will request the member states to respond to the general assembly resolutions and to introduce a comprehensive and effective smooth transition mechanism for the graduating LDCs under the WTO system.

"Agreement on this decision would be an important contribution to remedy the difficult circumstances that the graduating LDCs encounter," it noted in the draft.

A senior official of the Ministry of Commerce told the FE that Bangladesh is scheduled to be graduated from the LDC category by 2024.
The government is negotiating bilaterally with different trade blocks, so that the existing preferential treatments continue even after the graduation, he said.

Contacted on Tuesday, Disting-uished Fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya told the FE that many trade preferences, including the duty-free and quota-free system, is not in the hands of the WTO.

"It is the blocks concerned, which will decide whether to extend these preferences for the graduating LDCs (or not). The WTO has very limited scope to create influence in this case."

He said the LDC group can request for many facilities, but apart from the flexible implementation of the various WTO treaties, the rest preferences are in principle morally guided.
"At this moment I am working on a major proposal on what can be done for the graduating LDCs in the context of the Covid-19 outbreak," said Mr Bhattacharya, who is a member of the UN CDP.

He feared that graduation of some LDCs may be deferred due to the impacts that the pandemic have on their economies.

"Of course, I can see two countries, whose graduation may be delayed," he concluded.
syful-islam@outlook.com

LDC group to seek support for 10 years after graduation

The group of least developed countries (LDCs) has opted to request the rich nations for extending support measures, available to the graduating LDCs, for at least a period of 10 years after they are excluded from the category, officials said. The proposal will be placed in line with the UN General

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

 

[Bilal9]

I don't know who died and made this Debapriya guy an expert on opining about Bangladesh' graduation out of LDC status.

Everything he says has a tendency to benefit the BJP Sanghi govt. in India......old shill habits die hard....

 

[Protest_again]

Lol. Bangladesh is worried that even that apparel export business will come to neigh if they graduate from LDC. They have utterly failed to diversify their export basket for the past 10 years. They kept growing their inflation induced economy so much their PPP GDP is only twice their nominal (vs avg of 4 times for other south asian economies).

Now that nominal per capita is relatively high but even then their purchasing power is quite low. I suggest them to devalue their currency, lower their percapita rather than making such pleas to the world that detrimental to actual LDCs.

 

[bluesky]

Lol. Bangladesh is worried that even that apparel export business will come to neigh if they graduate from LDC. They have utterly failed to diversify their export basket for the past 10 years. They kept growing their inflation induced economy so much their PPP GDP is only twice their nominal (vs avg of 4 times for other south asian economies).

Now that nominal per capita is relatively high but even then their purchasing power is quite low. I suggest them to devalue their currency, lower their percapita rather than making such pleas to the world that detrimental to actual LDCs.

However true may be your understanding of BD's economic performance, neither Hasina nor many of BD brats in the PDF will accept it. They love to sing a developed BD in 2041 as if singing that in chorus will automatically send BD to the developed status.

However, is this statement of yours true? "They kept growing their inflation induced economy so much their PPP GDP is only twice their nominal".

 

[Protest_again]

However true may be your understanding of BD's economic performance, neither Hasina nor many of BD brats in the PDF will accept it. They love to sing a developed BD in 2041 as if singing that in chorus will automatically send BD to the developed status.

However, is this statement of yours true? "They kept growing their inflation induced economy so much their PPP GDP is only twice their nominal".

Yes. In India inflation targeting rate is 2-4% for the past decade. Bangladesh consistently keeps it at 6%.

This happens because India mandatorily maintains fiscal deficit at 3% (not this year but in general). Where as Bangladesh runs fiscal deficit to the tune of 5.5% of GDP.

How do you fund this fiscal deficit? By printing majorly. Hence inflation.

This is reflected in implied PPP conversion rate.

This is to mean that if both Indians and Bangladeshis want to buy same product, an Indian can buy it for 18 rupees and Bangladeshi can buy it for 34 taka and the gap is projected to increase. So that means Indians will have more purchasing capacity than Bangladeshi even if they both have similar purse.

 

[DalalErMaNodi]

Yes. In India inflation targeting rate is 2-4% for the past decade. Bangladesh consistently keeps it at 6%.

This happens because India mandatorily maintains fiscal deficit at 3% (not this year but in general). Where as Bangladesh runs fiscal deficit to the tune of 5.5% of GDP.

How do you fund this fiscal deficit? By printing majorly. Hence inflation.

This is reflected in implied PPP conversion rate.
View attachment 669187


This is to mean that if both Indians and Bangladeshis want to buy same product, an Indian can buy it for 18 rupees and Bangladeshi can buy it for 34 taka and the gap is projected to increase. So that means Indians will have more purchasing capacity than Bangladeshi even if they both have similar purse.

Well, India is a super power, so this comparison is completely unfounded.

 

[Protest_again]

Well, India is a super power, so this comparison is completely unfounded.

Compared to you of course. We not only have Indian budget and states have their own budget. Your budget is midget if you compare it to any of south Indian states let alone India.

 

[DalalErMaNodi]

Compared to you of course. We not only have Indian budget and states have their own budget. Your budget is midget if you compare it to any of south Indian states let alone India.

Yes, like I said Super Power.


Should I write it in caps or are you done with the dick measuring fest ?

 

[Protest_again]

Yes, like I said Super Power.


Should I write it in caps or are you done with the dick measuring fest ?

You should remember this next time you mention India with inferior tone. Take care.

 

[DalalErMaNodi]

"I have big panis, call +9164863836 Ur so saxy" syndrome is real.

 

[Bilal9]

"I have big panis, call +9164863836 Ur so saxy" syndrome is real.

Halar pasai tena nai, aise dillagi korte. Durey giya moruk.

 

[Homo Sapiens]

They kept growing their inflation induced economy so much their PPP GDP is only twice their nominal (vs avg of 4 times for other south asian economies).

You are exaggerating here too much. The ratio between nominal and ppp GDP in case of Bangladesh is 2.67 vs 3.34 for India. So instead of twice the gap, it is only about 25% between India and Bangladesh.

This is reflected in implied PPP conversion rate.

Please do not quote the IMF 2020 projection of GDP for countries when COVID-19 severely wrecked havoc world economy where India is one of the worst performer. These number turned into a big joke. Stick to 2019 world bank data. According to 2019 world bank data-

Per capita nominal GDP-
Bangladesh-$1,855
India-$2,104 [13% more than Bangladesh]


Per capita GDP PPP-
Bangladesh-$4,950
India-$7,034 [42% more than Bangladesh]

World Bank Open Data

Free and open access to global development data

data.worldbank.org

World Bank Open Data

Free and open access to global development data

data.worldbank.org

So, average Indian have 42 percent more purchasing power than an average Bangladesh person. But when an Indian will go to other countries with dollar to buy things or foreign goods within India they will have just 13% more purchasing power than an average Bangladeshi. This indicate a relatively stronger Bangladeshi currency than Indian Rupees. Why are you finding this to be anything bad ? Bangladesh govt. is very conservative when it comes to depreciation of local currency for wider good of the economy, although they face considerable pressure from exporters to depreciate the Taka against Dollar. We believe in stable currency and minimum govt. intervention with currency exchange rate. This reflect our stable macro-economic outlook.

So you have nothing to proud about wide gap of nominal and ppp gdp in case of your country. If anything, goal for rapidly growing developing countries should be to raise the nominal GDP to catch-up and come nearer or even exceed GDP PPP like the developed countries in gradual fashions.

 

[Homo Sapiens]

Compared to you of course. We not only have Indian budget and states have their own budget. Your budget is midget if you compare it to any of south Indian states let alone India.

Midget even compared to any South Indian states? Are you high on Cow-Cola? Budget of Bangladesh is 67 billion dollar while entire India's central budget in this year is 428 billion Dollar( 6 times of Bangladesh). Now come to Indian state budget, lion share of which consists of Central tax share and other transfer from the central budget. States also raise it's own tax revenue, but it is unlikely to match the Center, as most of the bigger tax collection is done by Indian central govt. Indian states have limited option to collect tax revenue. Even if all the states collectively raise equal the amount of the Center, India's total budget(central+states-central transfer to states) is unlikely to be more than 800 billion dollar. Which is 12 times of Bangladesh(India has 8 times more population than Bangladesh).

The biggest Indian state budget is in Maharashtra, this year it is 4.34 trillion Rupees or 59 billion US dollar. Still less than Bangladesh. This despite the fact that 'tax revenue as percentage of GDP' in Bangladesh is lower than India. (9% vs 11%) The biggest South Indian state economy and budget is in Tamil Nadu, whose budget is 2/3rd the size of Maharashtra. Now you ponder about your suppa pawa grandiose statement you made here.

 

[Bilal9]

Midget even compared to any South Indian states? Are you high on Cow-Cola? Budget of Bangladesh is 67 billion dollar while entire India's central budget is 428 billion Dollar( 6 times of Bangladesh). Now come to Indian state budget, lion share of which consists of Central tax share and other transfer from the central budget. States also raise it's own tax revenue, but it is unlikely to match the Center, as most of the bigger tax collection is done by Indian central govt. Indian states have limited option to collect tax revenue. Even if all the states collectively raise equal the amount of the Center, India's total budget(central+states-central transfer to states) is unlikely to be more than 800 billion dollar. Which is 12 times of Bangladesh(India has 8 times more population than Bangladesh).

The biggest Indian state budget is in Maharashtra, this year it is 4.34 trillion Rupees or 59 billion US dollar. Still less than Bangladesh. This despite the fact that 'tax revenue as percentage of GDP' in Bangladesh is lower than India. (9% vs 11%) The biggest South Indian state economy and budget is in Tamil Nadu, whose budget is 2/3rd the size of Maharashtra. Now you ponder about your suppa pawa grandiose statement you made here.

@Homo Sapiens bhai my sincere appreciation for refuting the flimsy claims of this uninformed Sanghi blowhard.

They are so high on Cow Cola and Modi Propaganda like their idiot film star Akshay, that they look down their noses on countries like us who are probably the best business partner they have.

And our economy hasn't even fully matured yet, while theirs is already facing a downturn on internal consumption. Look at their auto industry.

Honestly, the time for pleasantries and sweet talk is over. We should cut off trade or at least try seriously to reduce our trade dependency with them, seeing how arrogant these tutta dhoti toiletless idiot Sanghis are. Their delusion has lost all touch with reality.

While at it, we should kick out illegal Indian employees from our businesses in Bangladesh (at least 16 lakh corporate employees at last count, and not rickshaw pullers) and discourage our citizens on going to India for tourism and medical services. Indian ingrates are too high on nationalism these days.