Bangladesh, which outpaced India in many indices of economic or human development, has surpassed its giant neighbour on per capita income.
“Once described as a bottomless basket by US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Bangladesh is fast emerging as a bull economy, outpacing giant neighbour India in many indices of economic or human development,” The Tribune says citing Indian newswire IANS.
Planning Minister MA Mannan informed the cabinet this week that the per capita income of Bangladesh has now increased from $2,064 to $2,227.
Bangladesh’s per capita income is now $280 higher than India’s $1,947.
“Our per capita income stands at $2,227 in the fiscal year 2020-21 against the previous fiscal year’s per capita income was $2,064. So, the growth rate is 9 per cent,” Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said.
In 2007, the per capita income of Bangladesh was half of that of India but it will overtake the giant neighbour in per capita GDP once again in 2025 if IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook is to be believed.
But what pleases Bangladeshis more is that they have left Pakistan far behind—a sort of sweet revenge for the genocide of 1971 in which three million Bengalis died and quarter of a million women were dishonored by the brutal Pakistan army trying to suppress the Bengali liberation struggle.
“My father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman took the right decision to break away from Pakistan in 1971. See where they are and where we are today,” PM Sheikh Hasina told journalists recently.
