A Digital Strategy for Bangladesh’s Biggest Problems
Bangladesh halved its poverty rate and grew its economy by as much as 7% in recent years. Yet many challenges remain, from malnourishment in rural districts to air pollution in the capital Dhaka. To help the government tackle the nation’s biggest problems, the Bangladesh Priorities Project asked scores of economists how best to respond.
This collaboration between the Copenhagen Consensus Center think tank and BRAC, the world’s largest nongovernmental organization, saw an eminent panel of Bangladeshi thought leaders and a Nobel laureate economist rank 76 proposals. The list highlights where Bangladesh or international donors can spend money, or spur cost savings, to help achieve the most good.
The research found that scaling up the government’s e-procurement platform would improve public services while generating significant cost savings. On average, developing nations spend about half of their budget on procurement, with inefficiencies wasting billions of dollars that could be devoted to other needs.