Introduction

Part A: Macroeconomic transformation Few countries in the developing world have shown as exciting a promise of economic prosperity as the South Asian country of Bangladesh. According to the World Bank (2019a), Bangladesh has consistently featured in the top-five fastest- growing economies of the world over the last ten years, registering a GDP growth rate of 7.3% in 2019. Fuelled by a relatively stable macroeconomic environment (a fiscal deficit below 5% of GDP), export-led growth and plummeting levels of poverty (44.2% in 1991 down to 14.8% in 2016/2017) (World Bank, 2019), Bangladesh has recently graduated from the United Nation’s Least Developed Country (LDC) list and is on track to become a middle-income country within the next five years (UNDESA, 2019). -- Introduction.