As all of us watched the US Presidential debates and await the outcome of the elections in early November with bated breath, I was struck by how much the world is moving on different planes.

The project 'Bangladesh Priorities' set out to have a conversation on what is best for Bangladesh. In that spirit, I welcome the commentary from Nick Beresford of UNDP Bangladesh on September 29. His concerns merit a considered response.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Bangladesh is likely to be a landmark one owing to a number of factors. After three decades, a Chinese President is visiting Bangladesh, signifying growing importance of the country in South Asia's economics and geo-politics.

Two very positive economic developments have recently come to light. One is Bangladesh moving up a notch to rank 106th among 138 countries in the Global Competitiveness Index. Second, that the country's extreme poverty has declined to 12.9 percent in the financial year (FY) 2015-16 from 18.5 percent in 2010, according to the latest Bangladesh Development Update released by the World Bank (WB).

Bangladesh's garments industry, for good or worse, has been on the radar screen of policy regulators, North American and European trade union movements, international lenders, as well as global activists promoting sustainable and equitable growth.

Economics has long held a reputation of being an inaccessible social science. We are daunted by its intricacies, technicalities and ambiguities.

For meaningful comparisons among different countries with respect to their levels and trends in income inequality, we need comparable data.

The United Kingdom is now in the midst of a Shakespearean dilemma, “to stay or not to stay”. Voters will decide in a referendum on June 23...

Heoretically, trade liberalisation results in productivity gains through increased competition, efficiency, innovation and acquisition of new technology.

Over the past two decades, Bangladesh has remarkably managed to feed an increasing population better - the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that in 1993...

Bangladesh's manufacturing sector has grown steadily as the country has industrialised. Manufacturing now accounts for 30 percent of GDP, nearly double the share of agriculture.

It is well known that since the 1980s, Bangladesh has made astonishing progress on a wide variety of development indicators such as reducing the prevalence of extreme hunger and poverty...

According to a research done by Dr. Kabir Hassan, Prof. University of New Orleans, it has been calculated that each year BDT 25,000 crore of zakat can be obtained from Bangladesh and if distributed properly each extremely poor family can get two million taka from this huge fund.

I can think of few people who have done more for the world's deprived population than Fazle Hasan Abed.

Imagine a world where you earn a decent living, the state treats you with fairness, there is little carbon emission in the environment...

It should not be surprising that private sector investment's share in GDP is shrinking. Banks are drowning in excess cash to the point where call money rate collapsed to historic lows.

Economists estimate that over that three-decade timeframe, the [Padma] bridge will reach its full traffic capacity of 75,000 vehicles each day.

Imagine paying interest to save money. A bizarre idea that was once theoretical curiosity is now a stark reality in several economies of the developed world...

This is the story of my father who was a civil servant assigned as the treasury officer of Dhaka in 1971.

Mobilising more resources for government could help improve many public services and goods, including the massive infrastructure needs of the country. But is mobilising more government resources the best way to help Bangladesh?