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BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology

(BUFT)

Course Code: BUS 3101

Course Title: International Trade & Transaction

Date of Assignment
05th October 2021

Date of Submission
15th November 2021

Assignment On
The impact of COVID-19 globalization: A study on opportunities and challenges
in Bangladesh
Submitted By:
Name: Labibuzzaman Bokshi
I’d Number: 192-083-111
Section: 192-02
Department of Apparel Merchandising & Management (AMM)
BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology (BUFT)

Submitted To:
Ms. Anindita Shaha Tumpa
Lecturer
Department of Business Administration
BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology (BUFT)
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Table of Content

Serial Number Content Name Page Number

01 Introduction, Objectives 03
02 Letter of Transmittal 04
03 The Impact of COVID-19 on Bangladesh's Economy 05

04 Context 06
05 Challenges of Bangladesh in Globalization 07
06 Strategy 08
07 Country Partnership Framework 09
08 Result 10-15
09 Opportunities in Bangladesh, Conclusion 16
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The impact of COVIT-19 globalization: A study on opportunities and

challenges in Bangladesh Introduction:
Globalization, or globalization (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences),
is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and
governments worldwide. Globalization has accelerated since the 18th century due
to advances in transportation and communication technology. This increase in
global interactions has caused a growth in international trade and the exchange of
ideas, beliefs, and culture. Globalization is primarily an economic process of
interaction and integration that is associated with social and cultural aspects.
Objectives:
The goal of globalization is to provide organizations a superior competitive
position with lower operating costs, to gain greater numbers of products, services,
and consumers.

Letter of Transmittal
th
05 October 2021

TO,
Anindita Shaha Tumpa
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Lecturer
Department of Business Administration
BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology (BUFT)

Subject: Assignment on the impact of covet-19 globalization: A study on

opportunities and challenges in Bangladesh

Dear Mam,

With due respect, I want to state that I am studying the attached assignment entitled
“The impact of covet-19 globalization: A study on opportunities and
challenges in Bangladesh” as a partial requirement of the Bachelor in AMM
degree.

I pray and hope that you will kindly accept the assignment. I hope that you will
find this assignment as satisfactory.

Program: Bachelor in Apparel Merchandising & Management (AMM)

I’d Number: 192-083-111
Section: 192-02
Department of Business Administration

The Impact of COVID-19 on Bangladesh's Economy:

The COVID-19 pandemic is having an adverse impact on Bangladesh's economy
by affecting millions of people's life and hampering their income sources. The
outbreak of COVID-19 has created more pressure on the labor market. The
pandemic reduces employment opportunities as most of the companies have
stopped their recruitment process to cut their operational costs, which increases the
rate of graduate unemployment in Bangladesh. Hence, this study aims to
investigate the impact of COVID-19 on graduate employability in Bangladesh that
adversely affects the income of families and eventually the nation's economy. A
literature review has been conducted from secondary sources to evaluate the
impact, which shows that the rate of graduate unemployment increased from 47%
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to 58% in 2020 with an expected annual loss estimated at $53 million. Findings
also reveal that the prime reasons for graduate employability are low demand and
huge supply of graduates in the labor market, lack of professional skills of
graduates, ineffective education system, etc. The study suggests that the
government of Bangladesh should develop some policies to overcome this problem
such as ensuring employment subsidies, implementing skills development
programs, improving labor market flexibility, initiating credit programs for
generating employment, and developing entrepreneurial ecosystems in Bangladesh.

Context:
Bangladesh has an impressive track record of growth and poverty reduction. It has
been among the fastest growing economies in the world over the past decade,
supported by a demographic dividend, strong ready-made garment (RMG) exports,
and stable macroeconomic conditions. Continued recovery in exports and
consumption will help growth rates pick up to 6.4 percent in fiscal year 2021-22.
Bangladesh tells the world a remarkable story of poverty reduction and
development. From being one of the poorest nations at birth in 1971 with per
capita GDP tenth lowest in the world, Bangladesh reached lower-middle-income
status in 2015. It is on track to graduate from the UN’s Least Developed Countries
(LDC) list in 2026. Poverty declined from 43.5 percent in 1991 to 14.3 percent in
2016, based on the international poverty line of $1.90 a day (using 2011
Purchasing Power Parity exchange rate). Moreover, human development outcomes
improved along many dimensions.
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Challenges of Bangladesh in globalization:

Bangladesh, like other countries, faces the daunting challenge of fully recovering
from the COVID-19 pandemic which has constrained economic activities and
reversed some of the gains achieved in the last decade. The COVID-19 pandemic
decelerated economic growth in 2020. The pace of poverty reduction slowed down,
exports declined, inequality increased across several dimensions and the poverty
rate in 2020 increased to 18.1 percent from 14.4 percent. Nevertheless, strong
remittance inflows and a rebound in export market has helped the economy to start
recovering gradually. To recover fully and achieve its growth ambitions of
achieving uppermiddle income status, Bangladesh needs to address the challenge
of containing COVID-19. Vaccinating the population will reduce the incidence of
the disease and mortality and enable the full resumption of economic activities.
Bangladesh also needs to address the challenge of creating jobs/employment
opportunities through a competitive business environment, increased human capital
and skilled labor force, efficient infrastructure, and a policy environment that
attracts private investments. Other development priorities include diversifying
exports beyond the RMG sector; deepening the financial sector; making
urbanization more sustainable and strengthening public institutions. Addressing
infrastructure gaps would accelerate growth and reduce spatial disparities in
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opportunities across regions and within cities. Addressing vulnerability to climate

change and natural disasters will help Bangladesh to continue to build resilience to
future shocks. Pivoting towards green growth would support the sustainability of
development outcomes for the next generation.

Strategy:
Since the country’s independence, the World Bank has been a longstanding partner
of Bangladesh. Since then, the World Bank through its concessional lending arm
the International Development Association (IDA) has committed more than $35
billion in grants, interest-free and concessional financing credits to Bangladesh.
Currently, Bangladesh is among the largest IDA recipient country. The World
Bank has also been the largest external funder of Bangladesh providing over a
quarter of all foreign aid to the country. Through a robust program of technical,
analytical, and financial support, the World Bank Group is supporting Bangladesh
towards its vision of becoming an upper-middle income country by the next
decade. This includes government efforts in economic development and growth,
power, infrastructure, disaster management, climate change, human and social
development, and poverty reduction.
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Country Partnership Framework:

The World Bank Group’s Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for 2016-2020
outlines the plan for supporting the country to ensure green, resilient and inclusive
development . The three focus areas are: (1) growth and competitiveness; (2) social
inclusion; and (3) climate and environment management. It adjusted to respond to
the challenges created by the influx of the displaced Rohingya population, and
recommended greater attention to human capital, climate resilience, and digital
transformation. The World Bank Group’s technical and financial assistance focuses
on (i) accelerating growth by helping to remove bottlenecks to growth and shift
more financing to increase electricity supply and improve transport connectivity;
(ii) foster social inclusion by building on Bangladesh’s impressive gains in human
and social development; and (iii) strengthen climate and environmental
management with the aim to enhance Bangladesh’s resilience to natural disasters,
improving water and natural resource management and modernizing agriculture.
The framework is anchored in the government’s Seventh Five-Year Plan. Through
extensive consultations with its stakeholders government, civil society, and the
private sector the World Bank Group is embarking upon the preparation of the next
Country Partnership Framework for Bangladesh for 2023-2027, which will support
the Government of Bangladesh’s Eighth Five-Year Plan. The World Bank support
for Bangladesh for FY21–22 is aligned with the World Bank Group’s Approach
Paper on “Green Resilient and Inclusive Development (GRID).” Total IDA
commitments as in the active portfolio stands at 13.96 billion for 52 ongoing
projects.
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Result
Support to fight COVIT-19:
Within three weeks of detection of the first COVID-19 case in
Bangladesh, the World Bank approved $100 million to help Bangladesh test, treat,
manage the COVID-19 infection, as well as strengthen the public health system.
The financing helped Bangladesh ramp up COVID-19 testing and strengthen
treatment through ensuring supplies of critical items like ventilators, oxygen
concentrators, ICU beds, high flow oxygen cannula, and personal protective
equipment as well as work for setting up liquid medical oxygen systems at 30
public facilities is ongoing. In March 2021, the World Bank approved additional
$500 million to support the national vaccination program. Further, since the
pandemic started, the World Bank approved $1.7 billion to support Bangladesh
with the aim of “building back better,” including an agenda for reforms and
effective investments which will leverage the private sector, help job recovery,
create job, boost human capital development, and strengthen protections for the
vulnerable people.

Education:
IDA is the largest external funder in the education sector covering the primary,
secondary, and tertiary levels, as well as technical and vocational education and
training, and education for the hard-toreach children. Bangladesh has made
remarkable gains in ensuring access to education in the past two decades. In 2018,
the country’s net enrollment rate at the primary school level reached above 97
percent, and that at secondary school level, around 69 percent. With nearly 9.1
million girls in secondary schools in 2019, Bangladesh is among the few
developing countries to achieve gender parity in school enrollment and has more
girls than boys in secondary schools. Improving the quality of education remains
the largest challenge for Bangladesh at all levels. Yet due to drop out rates, around
18 percent of children ages 6-11 remain out of school – either having never
enrolled or dropped out before completing grade 5. The ReachingOut-of-School
(ROSC II) Project helps address bringing the poor and out-of-school children to
schools and enable them to complete Grade 5 and transition to secondary
education. The Skills and Training Enhancement Project (STEP) helped to
strengthen and improve the quality of skills training and employability of youth,
both at home and abroad. Around, 150,000 graduates have completed programs in
100 polytechnic institutions. The World Bank is supporting the government
respond to the COVID-19 impact and build back a better and resilient education
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system through new and existing operations. These operations support remote
learning, safe school reopening, student learning assessment and remedial
education, enhancing digital connectivity and capacity building for better-prepared
school teachers and management at local and central levels.

Health, Nutrition and Population:

The World Bank has been a longstanding partner in helping the country’s health
sector. The statistics speaks for itself: assisted deliveries by skilled birth
attendance, increased from 5% in 1991 to 32% in 2011. This has helped reduce
maternal mortality rates from 574/100000 live births in 1990 to 194/100000 Live
births in 2010: and the under-five mortality rate from 151/1000 live births in 1990
to 53/1000 live births in 2011. Today, nearly 80% of Bangladeshi children receive
vitamin A supplements and over 85% are fully vaccinated, setting Bangladesh on
the pathway to achieving some targets of Sustainable Development Goal 3 -
reducing maternal and under-5 mortality. In fact, a Bangladeshi born today is more
likely to live a quarter of a century more than a child born in 1972. Despites of
enviable progress made, there remains a significant unfinished agenda with regards
to essential maternal, child health and nutritional services. At the same time, as
Bangladesh transitions to a middle-income economy, the country needs to address
rapid increase in Non-Communicable Diseases, and, be prepared for emerging
infectious diseases such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For tackling these
challenges, the country’s health system needs to be strengthened for both quality
and equity of health services, through increase in public spending on health,
improvement in governance and stewardship.
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Energy
The access to electricity in Bangladesh reached to 99.5% (grid and off-grid) and
the current installed generation capacity has increased to 25,235 MW including
captive power and renewables. IDA support has so far added 2,652 MW electricity
to the national grid, and 118 MW in off-grid areas through installation of solar
home systems, solar irrigation pumps, solar mini-grids and installed more than 2.3
million improved cookstoves. Another 310 MW capacity will be added to the
national grid through ongoing grid-tied solar projects. The World Bank supports
promoting power sector policies and institutional capacity building within the
Government, power and gas utilities and Bangladesh Energy Regulatory
Commission (BERC) with the aim to improve the financial health, investment, and
service quality. The World Bank has $1.85 billion of ongoing support in the energy
sector to enhance capacity, generate clean energy, improve efficiency in generation
and transmission & system operation, reduce technical losses, improve
transmission and rural distribution network as well as increase access to both grid
and renewable electricity.

Agriculture
Despite high population density, decreasing arable land, and frequent natural
disasters, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in achieving food security and
reducing poverty. Agricultural production value has increased faster than most of
the country's regional peers at 3.54% per year in the two recent decades
(19992019). However, self-sufficiency is continuously threatened by a decrease of
arable land by 0.4% per year, an increasing population, and declining output
growth with the share of agriculture in total GDP decreasing from 22.7% in 1999
to just 13.35% in 2019/20 (provisional). This has contributed to a decline in
employment growth and to a slowdown in poverty reduction. In the agriculture
sector, the World Bank supports the government towards climate resilient
diversification, value addition for greater job creation, entrepreneurship, safer, and
more efficient food systems. The World Bank is helping over 1.8 million rural
households modernize farm practices and use new climate smart technologies and
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2 million household farmers, small and mediumscale agro-entrepreneurs to

improve livestock production sustainably, with higher productivity and better
market access. Simultaneously, the World Bank supported 500,000 households to
increase grain reserves to meet their post-disaster needs and is helping the country
improve the quality and efficiency of grain storage management. The World Bank
is helping Bangladesh address food insecurity in challenging times, by increasing
the storage capacity of

Climate Change
Bangladesh’s geographical position renders it especially vulnerable to the adverse
impacts of climate change. The Global Climate Risk Index ranks Bangladesh as the
world’s seventh most affected country over the period 2000-2019 (Germanwatch
2021). The World Bank continues to help Bangladesh address climate change
impacts and disaster risk management. The country has built stronger
disastercoping mechanisms which helped to reduce cyclone related deaths by 100-
fold since 1970. IDA has an ongoing portfolio of US$1.3 billion supporting
Bangladesh to build resilience against natural disasters and climate change
impacts. Key interventions so far include - 1,313 repaired or newly constructed
multi-purpose disaster shelters, 375 km of climate-resilient roads built for last-mile
connectivity, rehabilitation of 745 km of embankments, restoration or construction
of 471 hydraulic structures for sustainable water management, and 473 ha in 10
coastal polders afforested with 1,182,500 seedlings, following a social afforestation
approach. All of these are benefiting 5.69 million in climate-vulnerable coastal
Bangladesh.

Opportunities in Bangladesh:
In Bangladesh, the easiest way for international students to pursue a research career
is to continue academic research in the host university. In this regard, you might
find the below links to the research opportunities of Bangladesh's two top-ranked
universities. As the oldest educational and research center in Bangladesh, Dhaka
University can be one of the first sights to focus your attention on for research
purposes. Each of the 13 faculties of the UniUniversityve their own research
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centers & bureaus. The most active research directions in the UniUniversityclude
Arts, Business Studies, Social Sciences, and Biological Sciences. Another good
opportunity to carry out research in the top-ranked University in Bangladesh is to
cooperate with the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. BUET
offers UniUniversity's-faculty research programs and cooperates with international
organizations such as United Nations Organizations, University Grants
Commission, Commonwealth Foundation, etc.

Conclusion:
According to the foregoing analysis, globalization is not merely an intensification
of global interconnectedness brought about by market forces and technological
change. The financial crises affecting different countries have shaken the
confidence of the advocates of globalization.