The March 2022 issue of Thinking Aloud focuses on “Emerging Development Challenges in Bangladesh”. The first-page article titled “Inflation for the marginalised people in Bangladesh: Beyond the official arithmetic” argued that the official figures of inflation do not reflect the real scenarios of the stress of the marginalised households in the wake of the price hike and offered an alternative estimation of the inflation rates for the marginalised households in Bangladesh. According to the analysis presented by the article, the marginalised households are facing food inflation rates that are more than two times the officially reported food inflation rates. Due to the high reliance on the necessary food items, poor people cannot cut down on necessities and are hit hardest by soaring prices of necessities. The article further suggested that the policymaking process needs to address this concern with the utmost priority. The second and third pages of this issue present three more articles on three recent studies conducted by SANEM. The article titled “Role of economic empowerment of women on the economy of Bangladesh” presented a summary of the study titled “Economic Case for Women: How Economic Empowerment of Women may Contribute in the Economy of Bangladesh”, conducted jointly by SANEM and World Vision Bangladesh. The article summarised the findings from the study, highlighting the way women’s economic empowerment contributes to the economy. The article titled “Climate-induced migration: Identification of alternative cities to Dhaka and their Economic Opportunities” presented a summary of the study titled “Climate-Induced Migration (CIM), An Issue-Based Project”. SANEM, in collaboration with Promoting Knowledge for Accountable Systems (PROKAS), a programme of the British Council, identified three secondary cities with the potential of becoming a regional economic hub and destination for climate-induced migrants through this project. The article titled “Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the cost of production and orders in the RMG sector of Bangladesh” presented the findings from a firm-level survey conducted by SANEM, in collaboration with Fair Wear Foundation. The study estimated the pandemic’s impact on the cost of production and status of foreign orders in the RMG industry. The fourth page draws attention to the events in February 2022 and the upcoming conference titled “Second Bay of Bengal Economic Dialogue 2022” to be held on 11-12 March 2022.
