Even after formally being graduated from the Least Developed Country (LDC) category in 2024, Bangladesh will be able to enjoy the existing trade benefits for another three years or up to 2027.
Thus the country is eligible to enjoy the current trade-related benefits, tariff-free market access to be precise, for next nine years from now on.
Policymakers and experts have already confirmed this in several deliberations in the different events on the occasion of celebrating the country’s eligibility to graduate from the LDC category to a developing one.
In the middle of the month, United Nations formally disclosed that Bangladesh has fulfilled the threshold of the graduation in all the three criterions.
Now, if the country maintains its position in all the three categories for the next six years, it will eventually graduate from the LDC bloc.
According to the UN norms, its Committee for Development Policy (CDP) will review the progress of the country in 2021 and again in 2024 when the formal declaration of the graduation will come.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh is currently enjoying tariff-free market access to 50 developed and advance developing countries. The benefit will continue up to 2027.
An estimate by the Centre for Policy Dialogue, however, showed that once trade benefits ended after the graduation, Bangladeshi products have to face additional 6.7 per cent tariff on average and this will lead to annul export losses of $2.7 billion.
In the European Union market alone, Bangladeshi products have to face additional 8.7 per cent tariff unless there are some negotiations for a fresh preferential treatment.
The country, as a LDC, is also enjoying low-cost finance like climate finance and development finance as well as aid-for-trade.
It is also benefiting from the flexibility in the intellectual property rights and availing low-cost medicine and cheaper software.