World Bank Immunity and Peoples’ Concerns (in Bengali)
IFI Watch Bangladesh, Vol. - 3 No. - 1
The people of the least developed countries (LDCs) 1 are told many a time that free trade creates opportunity for all, speeds up growth and unchains the shackles of poverty and despair. They are told that the current round of trade negotiations will, for sure, deliver on this promise.The practices in the international trading system are far away from the rhetoric: rich government tilt the playing field against the poor.
WTO and Bangladesh Agriculture (in Bengali)
IFI Watch Bangladesh, Vol.- 2 No.- 2
The stake of farmers of Bangladesh in negotiations for Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) in the run-up to the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) scheduled in December, 2005 remains crucial to culminate the Cancun impasse. Like before, the rules of the game for the bargaining are subjected to market access, domestic support and export subsidy. The developed and the exporting developing countries have been pushing each other to open up their markets further, to cut domestic support and reduce export subsidy to agriculture. But did the issues make any good in the past or would it make any better in the future to the lives and livelihoods of billions of poor who are plunged into poverty in the least developed countries (LDCs) including Bangladesh?
The Making of the Bank and the Fund above the Law in Bangladesh
IFI Watch Bangladesh, Vol.-2, No.- I
The amendment would give immunity to the WB and the IMF from all legal procedures. This would mean that the Brettonwoods institutions could not be taken to the court of law or be held liable for its actions by individuals, communities or the government. The Bill would strengthen the influence of international financial institutions (IFIs) over domestic policy decisions, therefore compromising the democratic process. The Bill would de facto make the WB and IMF organisations which share no responsibility to answer to the people, whom these are meant to serve.
Demystifying Effectiveness of Market Access for LDCs
A Case Study of Bangladesh Apparel Exports to the USA
The rhetoric of a special development package for the LDCs was aired in Hong Kong, with the assurance that the Ministerial would deliver on the promise of market access. The current study examines the effectiveness of the DFQF provided to the products of LDCs, by taking exportables of a single country to a single country market. For this purpose a trend analysis of Bangladesh exports into the US market has been conducted for last six years.
