Hussain Muhammad Imam
Bangladesh has embarked on a remarkable journey under the transformative leadership of Sheikh Hasina. She was the Prime Minister of Bangladesh for five terms, including her fourth consecutive tenure from 2009 until 5 August 2024. She was the world’s longest-serving female head of the government. The country has achieved significant milestones in critical areas of development by employing Sheikh Hasina’s visionary economic doctrine, ‘Hasinomics.’ According to Hussain (2021), ‘Hasinomics’ is a farsighted vision and pragmatic economic policy that Bangladesh has transitioned from a hopeless least developed nation (LDC) to an emerging developing economy from 2009 to 2024, widely recognised by researchers, development partners, and commentators. Its long-term vision is to make Bangladesh a developed nation by 2041. The foremost goal of ‘Hasinomics’ is a pro-people approach, striving to improve the standard of living for the people. This policy promotes potential employment and ensures inclusive economic growth to end hunger and poverty. The synthesis of Hasina and economics, ‘Hasinomics,’ is a development philosophy that combines social capitalism and pragmatic socialism to empower marginalised communities (Hussain, 2021). Former state minister of planning Shamsul Alam, one of the critical resource persons who wrote the ‘ Delta Plan 2100’, stated that it reflects Sheikh Hasia’s long-term vision and commitment to Bangladesh.
Hasina administration has opened numerous industries to private entrepreneurs previously reserved for the governmental sector. She has created opportunities for the private sector in health, banking, higher education, satellite television, export processing, and economic zones (Rahman, 2019).
Since 2009, Sheikh Hasina has worked with the private sector and the bureaucracy to make Bangladesh a middle-income country by 2021. She has prioritized improving digital and physical infrastructure (electricity, energy, roads, highways, and high-speed internet) to connect the country. She has also attempted to improve the bureaucracy’s capacity to carry out all of her development programs to realize that vision. Bangladesh has dedicated itself to a vibrant manufacturing sector and enormous infrastructural expansion to become a developed nation by 2041.
According to Sheikh Hasina, “There will be no homeless people in Bangladesh.” The annual report of the Ashrayan project (2023) demonstrates that since its start in 1997, this project has provided rehabilitation to almost 4.3 million people. The report exhibits that a total of 8,48,163 houses have already been allocated for the homeless and landless marginalized people. The Ashrayan project is an innovative approach currently known as the “Sheikh Hasina Model,” it aims to reduce poverty and promote equitable development. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the nation’s founding father, and Bangladesh’s first president, began rehabilitating the homeless, landless, and helpless after the country attained independence (Kayas, 2022).
The concept of 'Hasinomics' germinated in 2015 during my post-graduate studies in the Japanese studies program at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Here, I explored the economic doctrine of Japanese Prime Minister Shin Jo Abe, known as Abenomics. This study laid the foundation for my master’s thesis on 'Trade and Economic Relations Between Bangladesh and Japan: A Further Look,' where I first introduced the term ‘Hasinomics.' The idea further evolved in my 2021 master’s thesis, 'Hasinomics: Bangladesh is a Development Miracle,' at the University of Oulu, Finland, marking a significant breakthrough in developing this economic doctrine.
Reganomics was first established as an economic philosophy of former US President Ronald Reagan, with the policies characterized by a view that wealthy “job creators” are the key drivers of economic expansion. “If we want job growth, we need to recognize who creates jobs in America,” former House Speaker John Boehner famously stated in a speech that praised President Ronald Reagan for recognizing “that private sector job creators are the heart of our economy.” This is the fundamental principle of Reaganomics: prosperity trickles down from above (Hanauer,2023). In recent years, researchers talked about former Japanese Prime Minister Sin Jo Abe’s economic policies, popularly known as Abenomics, and its positive impact on the Japanese economy after a long struggle with stagflation. Besides, Modinomics was also introduced by Indian researcher Raghbendra Jha (2019), an economic doctrine of current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Currently, the economic policy of US President Joe Biden is dubbed Bidenomics. Nick Hanauer (2023) states that economic growth is driven primarily by a large and thriving middle class. “When the middle class does well, everybody does well,” President Biden has consistently stated. This is Bidenomics’ central proposition: prosperity grows from the bottom up and out.
Intrinsic Principles of “Hasinomics” –
Hussain (2021) concisely outlines the three central principles of ‘Hasinomics.’ First, it is committed to generating potential employment opportunities through robust economic growth, focusing on economic empowerment and its role in developing the country. Second, it is dedicated to improving the living standards of the mass population through poverty reduction, emphasizing people-centric policy and aims to uplift society’s most vulnerable sections. Lastly, it focuses on making an inclusive economy by ensuring equal opportunity for all, providing evidence of the socialistic roots, and aims to empower marginalized communities. These three principles form the backbone of the ‘Hasinomics idea and guide its implementation in Bangladesh’s development trajectory.
Considering several essential indices of the nation’s economic health, how might the Hasina government’s economic scorecard appear?
According to Sawada et al. (2018), Bangladesh’s remarkable progress in its economic and social development can be deemed a “miracle” given several unfavorable circumstances, including political instability, poor governance, inequality, the alarming rate of urbanization, and vulnerability to serious disaster threats.
Before the country celebrated its golden jubilee of independence on March 26, 2021, Bangladesh got the UN Committee for Development Policy’s (CDP) final recommendation in February 2021 about graduating from the least developed country (LDC) status. Since 1975, the UN has listed the nation as one of the LDCs. Bangladesh met all the requirements 2018 to be classified as a developing nation. According to the United Nations (UN), the Human Development Index (HDI) is 66 or above, the Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI) is 32 or below, and a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of $1,230 or above three years are the requirements for a country to move from the LDCs to the developing country. Bangladesh has satisfactorily fulfilled the three requirements. In 2020, the nation’s Gross National Income (GNI) per person was $1827, the Human Development Index (HDI) was 75.3, and the Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI) was 25.2. The United Nations (UN) designated Bangladesh as one of the world’s lower middle-income (LMC) nations in 2015 due to the country’s favorable economic indicators and general economic improvement across all sectors. All nations that have spent a long time in the cellar have declared their intention to get above the low-income category (Ahsan & Ahsan, 2018).
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when other nations faced negative growth, Bangladesh achieved positive GDP growth in FY2020 (IMF report, 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic has presented the nation with a new challenge in reducing poverty. According to the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2022, 18.7% of people live below the poverty line, compared to 24.3% in the survey conducted in 2016. The extreme poverty rate then fell from 12.9% to 5.6%. Bangladesh has successfully integrated into the global economy during the last two decades and has emerged as a model for economic development for its consistent economic growth. In FY2019, Bangladesh’s GDP increased by 8.15%, exceeding expectations. The nation struggles to recover from the COVID-19-related slowdown (Salim & Kabir, 2020). Bangladesh’s remarkable recent achievements in economics and society, along with explanations of how it all came about. The nation’s physical infrastructure and economy were destroyed during the arduous liberation war, but beginning in the early 1990s, economic growth began to show signs of strength. (Quibria, 2019).
Bangladesh has effectively managed the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Wazed (2020), the Bangladesh Prime Minister’s ICT advisor and the strategist spearheading “Digital Bangladesh”. This has been due to the positive effects of “Digital Bangladesh.” Iqbal & Pabon (2018) found that over the past five years, the average real GDP growth has surpassed 6%, substantially higher than the 4.7% average growth rate for all emerging nations. According to Jahan and Sobhan (2020), constant policy encouragement and investments in the ICT industry during the preceding 12 years have resulted in an exceptional potential for economic diversification and modernization of the administrative and economic sectors.
It has been reported that Bangladesh’s recent rapid economic expansion is inclusive and pro-poor (Iqbal & Pabon, 2018). The nation’s poverty rate has dropped dramatically in response to income growth. According to Jahan and Sobhan (2020), household poverty has decreased, while social and economic status disparities have increased. Therefore, the government’s economic policies can profoundly affect income distribution and economic prospects. According to the HSBC Bank (2019), Bangladesh’s economy is projected to rank 26th globally by 2030. According to Hans Timmer, Chief Economist for the World Bank’s South Asia Region, Bangladesh’s economy outperforms other countries, particularly India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.
On December 16, 1971, Bangladesh emerged triumphant after a nine-month-long, awful warfare that cost the lives of three million people, including 0.2 million women victims of severe torture. Ninety percent of the nation’s initial conditions were poverty, shattered infrastructure, no foreign exchange reserve funds, and a barely usable currency. Rahman (2019) stated that Bangladesh’s economic achievements so far have challenged former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s controversial claim that “Bangladesh is a bottomless basket” Now, the country’s nominal GDP per capita income has risen from $120 in FY1972 to $2,763 in FY2022 (Bangladesh Economic Review, 2022).
During the most significant phase in our history, Bangladesh was merely known to the world at large for its ecological catastrophes, extreme poverty, starvation, and political conflict. On the contrary, it did not reflect the aspirations of this nation. The most significant feature is our people’s resilience during numerous natural disasters (Rahman, 2019). Jahan and Sobhan (2020) claim that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the Nation and Founder President of Bangladesh, was shaped by his dream of an independent Bangladesh in which workers and farmers would no longer be exploited and there would be no more wealth disparity.
Hasinomics policy has been strongly guided by her father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s long-life struggle, lessons, thoughts, and philosophy for the emancipation of Bengali people, which I term Mujibnomics. The term Mujibnomics consists of Mujib and economics. The doctrine of Mujibnomics states that people can lead their lives with peace, prosperity, and human dignity and be free from all exploitations in a country popularly known as “Sonar Bangla.” Mujib’s philosophy has focused on realistic socialism for emancipating marginalized people.
Hussain (2021) examined how “Hasinomics” contributed to Bangladesh’s remarkable progress. The empirical research indicates a positive correlation between Bangladesh’s major economic factors and “Hasinomics.” The study observed that the gross domestic product (GDP) and GDP per capita (GDP per capita) increased by 410.39% and 40.49%, respectively, while Sheikh Hasina was the prime minister of Bangladesh.
The empirical data demonstrated that Bangladesh has expanded and achieved consistent growth and development under Sheikh Hasina’s leadership, unlike her rival, Khaleda Zia. The country is transitioning from the dubious “LDC” label to the status of a developing country due to Sheikh Hasina’s remarkable statesmanship. Bangladesh has become “Digital Bangladesh” since Hasina employed technology to transform the country. This digital progress is the most significant policy difference among leaders. Many analysts anticipate that under her proactive leadership and policy, Bangladesh might achieve high ambitions and become a developed nation by 2041.
Moreover, according to the study, Bangladesh has already surpassed Pakistan and India in nominal GDP per capita income. Bangladesh has also outperformed the two neighboring nations in significant areas based on the Human Development Index. Furthermore, Bangladesh excels Pakistan in the vital development parameters.
The study results may inspire businesspeople, investors, and development partners to work more closely with Bangladesh. Thus, investors should analyze Bangladesh’s economic health and prospects before planning.
Hussain Muhammad Imam
Writer and Researcher, Pioneer of Hasinomics