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What the papers say

Energy Powers Up

A weekly round up of articles about employment, the labor market, skills training and workforce development. This week’s round up is drawn from The Daily Star. Here is the news for the week ending 21st December, 2017.

This week in the Bangladesh English Press…

…we hear about Bangladesh Apparel Exchange organizing the first ever fashionology summit in the capital. Domestic demand, infrastructure and new energy initiatives drive growth. And Japan looks to Bangladesh for trained workers.

Business, Investments, Trade and Growth

Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE) will organize the first ever Bangladesh Fashionology Summit in Dhaka on February 12 next year. The aim is to bridge the gap between the present and the future of the textile and fashion industry. And to attract a wide spectrum of fashion, technology and innovation stakeholders. International brands, garment makers, technology and innovation companies, fabrics producers, software service providers will participate in the summit.

Bangladesh is expected to be among the fastest growing least developed countries in 2018 with an expected GDP growth of around 7 percent. According to a new report by the United Nations, strong domestic demand, large infrastructure projects and new initiatives in the energy sector are driving growth.

You can read the full report World Economic Situation and Prospectus 2018 here.

Research carried out for the Perspective Plan 2041 (PP2041) exercise suggests that in order to ensure consistency of growth and poverty reduction targets with environmental protection, Bangladesh needs to implement a green growth strategy. For that the country needs to increase its spending on environmental protection and climate change related programmes from 1 percent of GDP now to 3 percent of GDP by fiscal year 2031.

You can read the full report on Governance for Green Growth in Bangladesh here.

Japanese companies are going to invest in Bangladesh’s infrastructure projects under a new government-to-government arrangement. Japan has been providing nearly $2 billion in soft loans every year to Bangladesh since 2012-13.

Lingerie arises as a promising export item. Garment exporters have turned their focus on ladies undergarment as now the receipts easily surpass $700 million.

Education and the Labour Market

The Centre of Excellence for Bangladesh Apparel Industry (CEBAI) plans to enhance skills and increase productivity in the garment sector by providing training to workers and mid-level managers. A CEBAI official disclosed the plan at the “Brand Forum Meeting 2017” at the Hotel Amari in Dhaka on 14th December.

Safety for Bangladeshis working abroad still remains a big challenge for the government.  Around 1 million workers migrated this year. Twelve percent were women.

At a press conference on the eve of International Migrants Day 2017, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister said Japan wants to recruit skilled workers from Bangladesh. A MoU will be signed between Bangladesh and Japan within a few days. This will open up opportunities for Bangladeshi workers.

Farmers and Agriculture

Cold storage owners in Thakurgaon express their concern over potato farmers and traders not withdrawing their potatoes from cold storage as the price and demand of the agricultural produce is very low. Even though the price has fallen at the gates of the cold storage, consumers in the capital have to pay a higher price to the retailers. This suggests that 85 percent of the prices that consumers pay go to the pockets of the middlemen and not the farmers.

Aman paddy in Dakkhin Rajapur in Rajapur upazila of Jhalakathi was damaged due to water logging caused by heavy rain. A single farmer may suffer a loss of around $127.

And that’s the news for the week ending 21st December, 2017.