Graduation of Bangladesh from the LDC Category

Mr. Roland Mollerus, Chief, Secretariat of the Committee for Development Policy (CPD) handing over  an official letter to the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh Ambassador Masud Bin on Bangladesh’s fulfilling graduation criteria for the first time on 16 March 2018

Bangladesh had been categorized as a Least Developed Country by the United Nations in 1975. Graduation from this category had been a national aspiration since then. The United Nations Committee for Development Policy (CDP) determined three criteria for graduation which are GNI per capita, Human Asset Index (HAI) and Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI). The Graduation thresholds for 2018 were USD 1230 for GNI per capita, 66 or above for HAI and 32 or below for EVI.

The United Nations Committee for Development Policy (UNCDP), on completion of its review of the LDC category in 2018, found that Bangladesh’s GNI per capita was USD 1274, 73.2 for HAI and 25.2 for EVI. Hence, it announced on 15 March 2018 that Bangladesh had met the graduation criteria for the first time. On 16 March 2018, at an event at the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh, Mr. Roland Mollerus, Chief of the CDP Secretariat handed over to H.E. Permanent Representative of Bangladesh Ambassador Masud Bin Momen an official letter conveying that Bangladesh had qualified for graduation for the first time.

Under the visionary leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has been marching ahead to build the ‘Golden Bengal’ envisioned by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Qualification for graduation was indeed a major milestone in the sustainable development trajectory of Bangladesh.

It is also remarkable that Bangladesh was the first LDC that could qualify for graduation with considerable margin in all three criteria.

Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations in New York under the guidance and leadership of H.E. Permanent Representative Ambassador Masud Bin Momen played a vital role in securing this qualification of Bangladesh.