Per capita income closer to respectability

WITHIN a matter of four years, our per capita income of US$ 440 has increased to US$ 599. Over the last fiscal year alone, the income has risen from US$ 523 to US$ 599, only US$ 151short of reaching the magic figure of US$ 750 which will elevate us to middle income country status. The latest spurt of increase in Gross National Income (GNI) has been attained in spite of the substantive sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, construction and service sectors registering a fall in growth from one to three percentage points. Had the political unrest, corrosive corruption, floods, cyclone Sidr and the inhibitive costs of production not intervened, the per capita income by now would have reached a much respectable figure.So, where does the rise in per capita income come from? This is attributed to high growth in remittance from Bangladeshi wage earners abroad. Much that we benefit in ranking from the money soaked in the sweat of the brow of the Bangladeshi expatriates, it basically brings up the downside of the poor performance of our mainstream national economy. Let's not forget, manpower export is a fluctuating sector with its ups and downs depending on the employability and caprice in the host economies. Therefore, alongside consolidating present positions in conventional manpower markets and breaking new grounds for exporting it, we must strive to derive our principal strength from developing the real sectors of our economy.While acknowledging the contributions of the Bangladeshi wage earners abroad to our economy we badly need to introspect in the same breath as to how fair minded have we been in our treatment of the goose that lays the golden egg. When they air their grievances at their work places abroad how responsive our diplomatic missions have been to their plight? They are often harshly treated at the airport for no good reason whereas they should have been greeted with open arms.A belief gets stronger by the day looking around the tangible contributions made by expatriate communities to the economies of their home countries, that we are lagging behind in tapping the full potential of the NRBs. Successive governments have only paid lip service to the vision and agenda nurtured by serious economists for a rapid growth of the NRBs' highly prospective role in the national economy.
One of several CNG filling stations between Kanchpur Bridge and Jatrabari of the capital which BNP big shots built on the Kutubkhali canal, drastically reducing Dhaka's drainage capability.