Nearly 2.1 million newly poor in country, women losing jobs: World Bank report

The impact of economic weakness has fallen on the lifestyle and employment of people in Bangladesh. Nearly 2.1 million people have newly fallen into poverty in the country in the 2026 fiscal year compared to the previous year. In the same period, job creation has almost become stagnant and women have been comparatively more affected in the case of losing jobs.

This picture of the recent situation of Bangladesh’s economy has emerged in the ‘Bangladesh Development Update’ report of the World Bank published on Tuesday (October 6). The report said that pressure has been created on the income and employment of people due to the slowdown in economic activities, stagnation in investment and high inflation.

In the analysis of the World Bank, it has further been said that the capacity of revenue collection of Bangladesh is also one of the major weaknesses of the economy. Revenue collection of the country has stood at only 8.3 percent of GDP in the 2026 fiscal year, which is one of the lowest in the world. Alongside, the pace of growth is being obstructed due to the weakness of the banking sector, energy crisis and decrease in investment.

Jean Pesme, Director of the Bangladesh and Bhutan Division of the World Bank, said that rapid and bold reforms are needed in the banking sector, domestic revenue collection and energy sector to avoid economic recession and return to the path of inclusive growth. At the same time, importance has to be given to protecting the poor population and creating new and better employment.

The report said that social protection programmes, energy and agricultural subsidies are assisting the poor and vulnerable people. However, nearly half of the poorest families of the country are still not under any social protection programme. As a result, the World Bank has advised making the system of selecting the actual beneficiaries more effective to ensure the maximum use of limited government resources.

For this, the organisation considers the implementation and expansion of the government’s ‘Dynamic Social Registry’ as important. Alongside, the World Bank has informed that if multiple food-based subsidy programmes can be integrated and the coordination of the existing cash assistance programmes with the ‘Family Card’ can be increased, it will be possible to bring an additional 2.85 million people out of poverty.

On the other hand, although some stability has been seen in the external sector, there is pressure on the overall economy. Strong remittance inflow and improvement in the foreign currency reserve situation have given some relief to the external sector. However, the weakness of the banking sector, energy crisis, low revenue collection and stagnation in investment remain major challenges for the economy.

According to the forecast of the World Bank, the growth of Bangladesh may remain at 3.4 percent in the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years. If the reform activities gain pace and the energy supply situation improves, the growth may rise to 3.9 percent in the 2028 fiscal year. However, the World Bank thinks that returning to the path of sustainable growth will be difficult if the stability of the banking sector cannot be restored, revenue collection cannot be increased and employment cannot be created.