Bangladesh 2021 and Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B)

Bangladesh has experienced an accelerating economic growth in recent times and is poised to become a middle-income country by 2021. An increasing volume of apparel exports and a surging flow of inward remittances are the main drivers of growth. A transition to a middle-income country would however require a framework of South Asian economic regionalism. The paper argues that Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B) is likely an initiative to this end. It will help Bangladesh evolve as a “node & hub” in the latest phase of globalization in which the gravity of the world economy is moving away from the Asia-Pacific region to the Indo-Pacific region