The December 2019 issue of Thinking Aloud focuses on “Country Competitiveness of Bangladesh”. The first page article titled “Competitiveness of Bangladesh: Is It Holding Back the Development Potentials?” states that the economic growth rate in Bangladesh is at an ever-increasing rate since 2013 which increased from 6% in that year to a staggering 7.9% in 2018. On the other hand, during the same period, according to the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), out of 152 countries, the ranking of Bangladesh slipped from 99 to 118 and the GCI value saw a secular decline from 3.91 to 3.65 and thus poses the question – “Does this mean that competitiveness is not an issue as far as accelerating economic growth in Bangladesh is concerned?” The second and third pages of this issue present three articles. The article titled “Bottlenecks Facing Bangladesh’s Export Sector” emphasizes that since the export basket, as well as export destinations, are highly concentrated there is a pressing need for diversification of both the export basket and export destinations. The article on “Efficient Investment in Infrastructure for Attaining SDGs in Bangladesh” states that an efficient supply of infrastructure is conducive to inclusive growth and sustainable development and therefore, iterates the importance of required “efficient investment” in infrastructure for achieving SDGs in Bangladesh. The article titled “A Critical Review of the FDI Policy of Bangladesh” highlights that ultimately it is the cumulative human capital of a country that largely determines true competitiveness. Consequently, if Bangladesh wants to both attract and reap the full benefit of additional FDI, it must first and foremost invest in its people. The fourth page covers the events that took place in the month of November.
