BD Economic Update, WB (October 2012)

The World Bank, Dhaka Office publishes its Bangladesh Economic Update, October 2012 edition, where it predicts that the Bangladesh economy will grow at around 6.0% in FY13, far less than 7.2% that the government expects.

Here is the link for the summary of the report.

Profile of Justin Yifu Lin

Finance and Development, IMF in its 'People in Economics' section profiles Justin Yifu Lin, the first World Bank Chief Economist from a developing and Emerging economy during June 2008 - June 2012.

Link of the profile.  

IMF on Bangladesh

Naoyuki Shinohara, Deputy Managing Director of IMF gives an interview with Rejaul Karim Byron of the Daily Star and talks on the challenges and prospects of the Bangladesh economy.

Main points:
1. Bangladesh economy will expand by 5.8% in FY2013, BUT it will need to grow by 7.0% to 8.0% a year to achieve development objectives for the next decade. Generating more tax revenues from internal sources and better prioritizing expenditure will be crucial in reducing poverty and achieving the medium-term growth objectives.  
2. IMF is with the government in its fight against poverty by designing policies that help strengthen governance, reduce waster and excesses, and channel resources to growth-critical areas and there are two-prolonged approaches to do so: higher income through higher growth and targeted benefits for those most vulnerable to adjustment.
3. A major challenge for the government will be to keep subsidy-related costs under control and to ensure safety nets are in place to cushion the impact of administered prices increases on the most vulnerable.

Here is the link of the interview. 

What is the Fiscal Cliff?

The ''Fiscal Cliff'' is a new term used in the policy discussions of the U.S., and given its probable impact, multilateral organizations like the World Bank and IMF started using this term in their various policy papers and forecast measures.

Concept: In a nutshell, ''Fiscal Cliff'' is used to describe a bundle of momentous tax increases and spending cuts that are due to take effect in the US economy at the end of 2012 and early 2013. In total, the measures are set to automatically slash the federal budget deficit by $607 billion (or, about 4.0% of GDP) between FY2012 and FY2013.

Here is a conceptual article on the issue, published in the Council on Foreign Relations.   

ADO 2012 Update, ADB

Asian Development Bank (ADB) publishes its half-yearly flagship publication 'Asian Development Outlook 2012 Update' with latest economic updates on major economies of Asia. ADO 2012 Update also has a theme focus on service-sector-based growth process for developing Asia's economies. It also has a chapter on the Bangladesh economy. 

Here is the link of ADO 2012 Update.