| CPD organised a public lecture on “Bangladesh’s Graduation from LDC Status: Timeline and Policy Implications” on 30 December 2009 at the CIRDAP Auditorium in Dhaka. Debapriya Bhattacharya, Special Advisor on LDCs to the Secretary General, UNCTAD and former Executive Director, CPD delivered the lecture on the issue. Mustafizur Rahman, Executive Director, CPD moderated the session while Rehman Sobhan, Chairman, CPD chaired the session. The speaker noted that with the current pace of growth rate of 5.9 per cent, Bangladesh would require another 23 years i.e. in the year 2047 to graduate herself to a lower middle income country. On the other hand the target could be achieved by 2039 if the average growth rate was 6.3 percent. In this connection he also informed that Bangladesh is expected to meet the graduation threshold by 2027 and graduate by 2033 if child mortality rate reaches 46 per 1000, secondary school enrolment is 60 per cent, literacy rate 70 per cent and undernourished share of the population is moved down to 17% by 2021. It is important to note that there is scope for substantial improvement of these indicators of Human Asset Index and to being closer the graduation date, he added. Talking about policy implications Debapriya opined that a heavy investment in human assets development would increase GNI which would contribute towards meeting the requirements for graduation. He also added that a decrease in population would help to improve GNI per capita which might reduce the run up by 5 years. Relating the graduation status with the preferential trade facilities, he concluded by saying that Bangladesh would continue to receive all benefits entitled to an LDC till 2036 even if she reaches the threshold in 2027 and graduates in 2033.
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