Author: Dr. Alex Ezat Parnia

From the category of the United Nations’ Least Developed Countries (LDCs), on 24 November 2026, Bangladesh is currently expected to graduate to Developing Country status, although the government has in the meantime demanded an extension of three years till 2029, which is awaiting consideration at present by the UN General Assembly. But graduation will not mean an overnight end to every trade preference Bangladesh is getting now. The approach by the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Canada enables LDCs to continue receiving preferential treatment during transition periods, while a new Economic Partnership Agreement has been signed by Bangladesh with…

Every year, tens of thousands of Bangladeshi families make one of the most consequential financial decisions of their lives, and they make it based on an assumption almost nobody questions anymore. To give a child access to a genuinely international education, that child has to leave. The numbers behind that assumption are becoming difficult to look at honestly. Legally remitted funds for foreign education surged from $218 million in FY20 to $730.6 million in just the first ten months of FY26 alone, approaching the billion-dollar mark for the entire year. That figure now roughly matches the combined annual state budgetary…