Best efforts needed to reduce poverty before LDC graduation 

The poverty rate is not determined as a criterion for graduating from the list of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

Bangladesh will graduate to a status of a developing country in 2026 as it has performed well in three indexes such as per capita Gross National Income (GNI), Human Assets Index (HAI) and Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI), despite a higher poverty rate.

But, we should have some expectations and aspirations to reduce the poverty rate significantly in the graduating year at a respectable level. 

So, we have to make a maximum effort to reduce the poverty rate prior to 2026, considering that poverty alleviation will be more difficult when we will lose preferential market access after our graduation comes into effect.

Empirical examples also indicate that poverty alleviation is more difficult for a country where the rate of poverty is lower. It is comparatively easy to reduce poverty by 10 percentage points from 50%. But it would be harder to reduce 5 percentage points from 10%.

Cash transfer is the best tool to maintain the livelihood of the poor and vulnerable people, but it would not ensure sustainable poverty alleviation.

Considering the huge number of jobless new poor, the government should enlarge its social protection regarding the number of beneficiaries and per capita allocation.

To ensure sustainable graduation and poverty alleviation, we need to create decent jobs for the youth and jobless people.

The redistribution initiatives like the expansion of the social safety net up to universal social security, the introduction of a universal pension scheme would be key to poverty reduction.

The government has to take proper initiatives to increase productivity through developing human capital and to ensure the rights even for labourers engaged in the informal sector.