Poverty Alleviation and Trade Policy Reform in Bangladesh: Some Selected Issues

Poverty is one of the most important issues facing Bangladesh today. As measured by head-count ratio (percentage of households below poverty line), more than fifty per cent of households are considered as moderate and extreme poor although the poverty situation of Bangladesh shows some improvement over 1987-1994 period (Hossain 1996). The indirect poverty alleviation strategy which concerns with the increase in per capita income and consumption focusses on employment (including self- employment) generation and productivity of the poverty stricken people, through public expenditures on education and health, public credit programmes targeted at them. This study attempts to highlight the links between trade policy and poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. The study limits its analysis to readymade garments, horticultural exports and poultry products. The exports of readymade garments comprise more than fifty per cent of total exports and employ a large number of mainly unskilled (particularly female) labour, and it is a high performing industry. Horticulture represents more than 70 per cent of exports of agricultural products. The domestic production of poultry products is oriented towards home market. Both of them are labour intensive products. Domestic demand for both horticultural commodities and poultry products is high, and is likely to grow.