Imran advised to copy Bangladeshi model instead of Swedish

LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan was recently advised by the panelists of a television talk show to follow the Bangladeshi model of development and governance, instead of copying Swedish, which otherwise has low levels of national debt, commendably low inflation and a relatively healthy banking system.

According to an Indian media house “Economic Times,“ the talk show participants not only drew a comparison between the Dhaka and Pakistani bourses, but also described how Bangladesh had succeeded in selling goods worth $40 billion in the international market, whereas Pakistan was reeling far behind with $22 billion annual exports only.

The “Economic Times” has noted in its recent report that Bangladesh has already achieved targets set for a hunger and poverty-free society under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), besides registering a satisfactory per capita income progress.

The newspaper said in its report that against all odds, Bangladesh has lifted 16 million people put of poverty during the last 10 years and has gone a long way in reducing inequality, which is a rare and remarkable development by any stretch of imagination for a nation whose survival was questionable at the time of its birth in 1971.

The “Economic Times” further said that in Bangladesh, the enrollment in primary and secondary schools has reached 97 per cent, and poverty incidence has nose-dived from 60 per cent to around 26 per cent since 1990 as a result of concerted efforts made by the Sheikh Hasina regime that intends to bring down poverty levels further to just 13.5 per cent by the year 2021, or within three years from now!

The Indian media house has also shed light on the fact that infant mortality rates in Bangladesh have plummeted by half since 1990, and the country has now adopted advanced information and communication technology to be digitized.