Remember when global leaders dismissed Bangladesh as a “basket case” back in 1971, while Pakistan looked like the stronger, more promising sibling? Fast forward to today, and here’s the uncomfortable truth: Bangladesh didn’t just survive, we leapfrogged Pakistan in almost every measure that actually touches your family’s life. But if you’re feeling that mix of pride and anxiety right now, you’re not alone.
Because while the charts look good, your grocery bill still stings, inflation keeps climbing, and you’re wondering: can we really sustain this lead, or are we celebrating too early while ignoring the cracks?
Here’s how we’ll tackle this together: the real numbers behind the reversal, what Bangladesh got right, where Pakistan stumbled, the warning signs we can’t ignore, and most importantly, what this economic story means for your savings, your children’s future, and the next decade of your life.
Keynote: Bangladesh and Pakistan Economy Comparison
Since 1971 independence, Bangladesh transformed from dismissed “basket case” to manufacturing powerhouse, surpassing Pakistan in GDP per capita, foreign exchange reserves, export earnings, and human development metrics. Official data from Bangladesh Bank, State Bank of Pakistan, IMF, and World Bank reveal structural policy differences that created this economic divergence.
The Scorecard That Changed Everything
When the Tortoise Actually Beat the Hare
Bangladesh overtook Pakistan in per capita GDP around 2019, ending decades of assumptions about which economy would thrive. That crossing point wasn’t announced with fanfare or celebrations, it quietly appeared in World Bank data while most people were focused on daily survival. Your purchasing power today sits roughly 75% higher than the average Pakistani citizen, a reversal nobody predicted when our countries separated.
This wasn’t a sudden jump but relentless 6-7% annual GDP growth compounding over decades. Think about what compound growth does: a family saving 50,000 taka annually at 7% growth becomes 70 lakh taka over 30 years, while the same amount at 3% becomes only 35 lakh taka. Bangladesh chose the 7% path while Pakistan settled for less.
The Numbers You Can Actually Feel in Your Wallet
According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data for FY 2023-24, our per capita GDP reached $2,675 compared to Pakistan’s $1,485. That’s not abstract economics, that’s the difference between affording your daughter’s university fees or borrowing from relatives. The life expectancy gap tells the healthcare story without sugarcoating: 75 years in Bangladesh versus 68 years in Pakistan means seven more years with your grandchildren.
Literacy rates reveal who invested in their children’s future: Bangladesh achieved 76% while Pakistan remains at 59%. Every percentage point represents thousands of families breaking the cycle of illiteracy. Currency stability affects your savings and imports every single day.
The Taka depreciated about 15% against the dollar between 2020 and 2024, painful but manageable. Pakistan’s Rupee collapsed by 64% in the same period, absolutely devastating anyone holding their life savings in local currency.
Bangladesh’s GDP hit $451 billion while Pakistan sits at $373 billion total, despite Pakistan having 1.6 times our population. Our growth rate of 5.82% in FY 2023-24 versus Pakistan’s projected 3.5% means your economy expands faster annually, creating more opportunities for your children. But inflation at 10.87% in Bangladesh still eats into that victory daily. It’s like winning the marathon while nursing a painful blister, the achievement is real but so is the discomfort.
What These Statistics Mean When You’re Standing at the Market
When rice prices jump from 50 to 65 taka per kilogram in six months, or your electricity bill doubles, you’re experiencing macroeconomic forces in the most personal way possible. Bangladesh’s inflation, while troubling, hasn’t reached the catastrophic levels Pakistan faced when flour hit 160 rupees per kilogram and sugar crossed 300 rupees.
The foreign exchange reserves tell you whether your country can afford fuel imports, essential medicines, and industrial raw materials. Bangladesh Bank reported forex reserves hovering around $28-32 billion range as of late 2024, sufficient for about 4-5 months of import coverage. Pakistan’s State Bank shows reserves struggling between $13-15 billion, barely covering two months. That difference determines whether your factory gets raw materials on time or sits idle, whether hospitals can import life-saving drugs or face shortages.
The Export Miracle That Nobody Expected
How Bangladesh Won the Garment Game Pakistan Started
Pakistan dominated textiles back in the 1960s when Bangladesh only exported raw jute and tea. Karachi’s textile mills were the pride of South Asia, employing hundreds of thousands and earning precious foreign exchange. We were the agrarian backwater, the region dismissed by international economists as too poor, too disaster-prone, too crowded to ever succeed.
Today Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest garment exporter after China alone, shipping $47 billion worth of ready-made garments annually. Our export earnings from garments alone exceed Pakistan’s total exports across all sectors combined. Let that sink in: one sector in Bangladesh out-earns Pakistan’s entire export economy including their textiles, rice, surgical instruments, and sports goods.
The transformation started in the late 1970s when Korean manufacturer Daewoo set up the first export-oriented garment factory in Chittagong, training 130 Bangladeshi workers. Those workers became trainers, supervisors, and eventually factory owners themselves. The knowledge multiplied. By the 1990s, garment factories were sprouting across Dhaka and Narayanganj. Today, 80% of garment workers are women, transforming household economics for millions of families who never imagined daughters would become primary breadwinners.
The Numbers Behind the Factory Floors
Ready-made garments account for 81% of Bangladesh’s export earnings currently. That concentration is both our greatest strength and most dangerous vulnerability. Pakistan’s textile and garment sector, once dominant, now struggles to maintain competitiveness and market access due to energy shortages, policy inconsistencies, and infrastructure bottlenecks.
Foreign exchange reserves built from exports tell the real story: Bangladesh accumulated $28-32 billion while Pakistan holds $13-15 billion. Those reserves were earned, not borrowed.
Employment for 4.5 million families in the ready-made garments industry creates multiplier effects throughout the entire economy. Each garment worker supports approximately 3-4 family members, meaning nearly 18 million people depend directly or indirectly on this single sector.
My former colleague Farhana, who started as a sewing operator 15 years ago, now runs her own small garment subcontracting unit employing 25 workers. Her story is Bangladesh’s story: starting with basic skills, learning quality standards from international buyers, accumulating capital, and gradually moving up the value chain. Pakistan had the same opportunity but couldn’t convert it into sustained growth.
The Hidden Risk Nobody Talks About Loudly
Depending on one sector for 81% of export earnings creates dangerous vulnerability that keeps economists awake at night. What happens when global demand shifts toward Vietnam or Ethiopia offering even lower costs? What if automation reduces labor demand in garment manufacturing? What if trade preferences disappear?
Recent worker protests highlight the tension between growth and welfare we must address honestly. Garment workers demanding living wages aren’t being unreasonable, they’re asking for a fair share of the value they create. Ignoring their legitimate concerns risks social unrest that could destroy the very industry that transformed our economy.
LDC graduation in 2026 removes duty-free access to European and other major markets. That preferential treatment helped our garments compete against China, Vietnam, and India. Without it, we’ll compete purely on cost and quality, a much harder game. The real test of our economic transformation arrives when we lose those training wheels.
The Women Factor That Changed Our Destiny
Bangladesh’s Secret Weapon Was Right There at Home
Female workforce participation: Bangladesh 36% versus Pakistan 14%. This single choice created billions in additional GDP annually while transforming cultural norms completely. Think about the economic logic: if you exclude half your population from productive work, you’re operating at half capacity from day one.
My aunt Nasreen, who lives in Mymensingh, runs a small dairy operation supplying milk to local markets. Twenty years ago, women in her village didn’t handle money or negotiate with buyers. Today, she employs three women and two men, manages accounts, deals with suppliers, and sends her daughter to medical school. Multiply her story by millions and you understand how Bangladesh unlocked economic potential Pakistan left dormant.
The microfinance revolution led by BRAC and Grameen Bank empowered rural entrepreneurship at scale. Small loans to women for poultry farming, tailoring, or small shops created economic activity in villages that traditional banking ignored completely. Grameen Bank’s success proved something revolutionary: poor women are excellent credit risks when given opportunity and respect.
Population Control: The Difference Between Growth and Stagnation
Bangladesh’s fertility rate dropped to 1.2% annual population growth versus Pakistan’s 2.1%. That difference compounds into economic destiny over decades. Fewer dependents per family leads to faster wealth accumulation for households. Economic growth can actually outpace population growth, so per capita income rises meaningfully instead of barely keeping up with new mouths to feed.
Female literacy jumped from 28% in 1971 to 76% today through deliberate government strategy and NGO efforts. Educated mothers have fewer children, invest more in each child’s education and health, and participate more actively in economic decisions. The correlation between female literacy and economic development isn’t coincidence, it’s causation running both directions.
What the Numbers Miss About Real Lives
Child marriage rates declined while female education enrollment reached critical mass by 2019. These changes weren’t just social progress, they were calculated economic strategy with measurable returns. Every year a girl stays in school instead of marrying at 14 represents future productivity, healthier children, and household decision-making that values long-term thinking.
Women earning wages transformed household power dynamics and children’s nutrition immediately. Studies by BRAC show that income controlled by women gets spent disproportionately on children’s education, healthcare, and nutrition. Income controlled by men often gets diverted to consumption that doesn’t build family assets. This wasn’t activism alone, it was recognition that economic development requires engaging everyone’s talents and energy.
Where Pakistan’s Path Went Wrong
The Debt Trap That’s Strangling Our Neighbor
Pakistan borrowed heavily without building productive capacity to repay mounting obligations. External debt exceeded $130 billion with limited export earnings to service it. The IMF became a recurring lender rather than one-time emergency rescue operation. Pakistan has now gone to the IMF 22 times since 1958, more than any other country.
Debt servicing consumes approximately 50% of government revenue before spending anything on education, healthcare, infrastructure, or development. Imagine your household budget where half your income goes to loan payments before buying groceries, paying rent, or saving for emergencies. That’s Pakistan’s fiscal reality, a permanent treadmill of borrowing to repay previous borrowing.
The debt-to-GDP ratio reached 75%, approaching levels where sovereign default becomes realistic possibility. Foreign lenders demand higher interest rates to compensate for risk, making new borrowing even more expensive. It’s a vicious cycle: borrow at high rates, struggle to repay, need to borrow more at even higher rates.
Military Spending vs Human Development: The Fatal Choice
Pakistan spends roughly 18% of its budget on military versus Bangladesh’s 9% allocation. That difference, compounded over 50 years, explains much of our divergent trajectories. Education spending reveals the real priorities: Pakistan allocated around 2.5% of budget versus Bangladesh’s 11%. Healthcare tells the same story: Pakistan spent 1.2% versus Bangladesh’s 4% on public health.
This resource allocation difference compounded over five decades into today’s prosperity gap. Pakistan chose to build nuclear weapons and maintain the world’s seventh-largest military while Bangladesh chose to build schools and hospitals. Neither choice is wrong in absolute terms, but both have consequences measured in life expectancy, literacy rates, and economic opportunities for ordinary families.
Every taka spent on military equipment is a taka not spent on teacher salaries, medical equipment, or infrastructure. Bangladesh faced similar security concerns, we share borders with India and Myanmar, deal with internal challenges, and face natural disasters regularly. We chose human capital over military hardware, and the economic results speak clearly.
When Inflation Destroys Everything You’ve Built
Pakistan’s inflation peaked at 29% in 2023, absolutely devastating to household budgets and business planning. At 29% annual inflation, prices double every 2.5 years. Your retirement savings lose half their purchasing power before you even retire. Business contracts become meaningless because costs change faster than you can adjust prices.
The Rupee depreciated 60% against the dollar in just two years, from around 175 rupees per dollar in 2021 to over 280 by 2023. Anyone holding savings in Rupees watched their wealth evaporate like ice cream melting in summer heat. Imported medicines, fuel, and industrial inputs became unaffordable, creating shortages that further damaged the economy.
My Pakistani friend Imran, an engineer in Lahore, told me his monthly salary that could comfortably support his family in 2020 barely covers rent and groceries by 2023. His savings for his son’s education lost 60% of its dollar value, forcing him to postpone college plans. That’s not a statistic, that’s a family’s dreams deferred because macroeconomic policies failed.
Political Chaos Has a Real Price Tag
Military interventions disrupted economic policy continuity repeatedly over Pakistan’s history. Just when a government establishes some policy consistency, a coup or political crisis changes everything. Investors, whether domestic or foreign, smell chaos before you even see it in headlines. They pull money out, postpone expansions, and wait for stability that never arrives.
Elite capture and corruption created permanent competitive disadvantage versus neighbors. When the richest families don’t pay taxes but control policy, when agricultural landlords block land reforms, when industrialists get subsidies instead of competition, the economy serves elites rather than broad development. Pakistan’s tax-to-GDP ratio remains around 9-10%, among the world’s lowest, because those with power refuse to pay their fair share.
Security concerns scared away the long-term investment needed for industrial transformation. No foreign company wants to build a factory when suicide bombings and sectarian violence make insurance unaffordable. No domestic entrepreneur expands when kidnapping for ransom is common. The security situation that Pakistan’s military spending was supposed to fix actually got worse, creating the ultimate policy failure.
The Warning Signs We Can’t Afford to Ignore
Our Own Inflation Monster Is Growing
Bangladesh’s inflation reached 10.87% in September 2025, significantly higher than our historical average of 5-6%. The Taka lost roughly 43% of its value against the dollar since 2021, eroding purchasing power for anyone buying imported goods or saving for the future.
Political unrest in July-August 2024 cost the economy an estimated $1.2 billion directly through business disruptions, export delays, and investor uncertainty. Those aren’t just numbers in an economist’s report, they’re closed shops, delayed salaries, and families struggling to make ends meet during crisis.
Are we heading toward our own Pakistan-style crisis or catching problems early enough to correct course? That question keeps me awake some nights. Food inflation hits hardest because you can delay buying a phone but not rice. Onion prices that spike 80% in two months, egg prices doubling, rice becoming unaffordable for the poorest families, these are the inflation realities that test social cohesion.
The Banking Sector Time Bomb Ticking Quietly
High levels of non-performing loans in Bangladesh’s banking sector cause serious concern among economists. Several banks show NPL ratios exceeding 20%, meaning one in five loans won’t be repaid. This mirrors early warning signs from other South Asian economies before their banking crises erupted.
Pakistan’s debt seemed manageable too once, until suddenly it wasn’t. The transition from “concerning but stable” to “acute crisis” can happen shockingly fast when confidence erodes. Can Bangladesh Bank address this before it metastasizes into systemic financial crisis? Your deposits and business loans depend on regulators getting this right immediately.
The temptation to hide bad loans through restructuring or rolling over debt only delays the inevitable reckoning. Japan’s “zombie banks” in the 1990s, India’s public sector bank crisis in 2015, Pakistan’s current banking stress, all followed the same script: deny, delay, then face catastrophic cleanup costs.
Political Instability’s Hidden Economic Cost
The July-August 2024 protests showed how quickly stability can evaporate. What seemed like a manageable student movement escalated into nationwide unrest that shut down factories, disrupted exports, and scared investors. Foreign buyers started asking whether Bangladesh is still a reliable supplier, the kind of reputation damage that takes years to repair.
Pakistan’s political chaos destroyed economic confidence repeatedly over decades of military coups, assassinations, and power struggles. Are our institutions strong enough to weather continued political turbulence ahead? The constitution matters, rule of law matters, independent judiciary matters, not because they’re nice ideals but because they determine whether investors trust your country with their capital.
It’s like driving fast with worn-out shock absorbers. You might handle smooth roads fine, but the first bump sends you careening out of control. Political stability is those shock absorbers for economic development.
Climate Change: The Variable Nobody Calculated
Bangladesh Faces an Existential Threat Pakistan Doesn’t
The 2025 monsoon floods affected over 7 million people and cost approximately 0.6% of GDP in direct damages and lost production. That’s recurring every few years, a permanent drain on resources that Pakistan largely avoids. Sea level rise threatens our coastal zones and agricultural heartland permanently, displacing millions and submerging fertile farmland.
This vulnerability wasn’t in Pakistan’s economic equation when comparing development trajectories. They face water scarcity and occasional earthquakes, but not annual floods affecting tens of millions. Climate resilience investments compete with development spending for limited budget resources, forcing impossible choices: build flood defenses or schools? Protect coastlines or expand healthcare?
According to the Asian Development Bank, Bangladesh needs to invest 2-3% of GDP annually in climate adaptation just to maintain current development trajectory. That’s $9-14 billion per year that must be diverted from other priorities. No other South Asian country faces this burden at this scale.
Adaptation Costs vs Growth Ambitions
Every taka spent on flood defenses, cyclone shelters, and coastal embankments is a taka not spent on factories, power plants, or technology upgrades. Climate finance from international sources helps but covers only a fraction of actual needs. Bangladesh’s vulnerability to natural disasters requires permanent resource allocation that our competitors don’t face.
Resilience isn’t a marketing slogan, it’s a mandatory budget line item that constrains our growth potential. The Padma Bridge cost $3.6 billion but was designed to withstand climate change impacts, adding significant expense. Standard bridges cost less but won’t survive the next 50 years of climate stress. We don’t have the luxury of choosing cheap infrastructure that won’t last.
What This Comparison Means for Your Financial Decisions
If You’re Saving in Taka: Lessons from Currency Collapse
Pakistan’s Rupee collapse destroyed savings for millions who trusted their currency. Our Taka is depreciating slower but still losing value steadily. Watch forex reserves and trade balance as leading indicators monthly. When reserves drop sharply or trade deficits widen, currency pressure intensifies.
Diversification strategies matter now more than ever. Holding some assets in stable foreign currency, investing in property that retains value, or acquiring skills marketable internationally provides protection if the Taka weakens further. Your emergency fund calculation needs to account for currency risk, not just job loss or medical emergencies.
One practical approach: if you have 10 lakh taka in savings, consider keeping 7-8 lakh in Taka-denominated fixed deposits but 2-3 lakh in dollar-linked instruments or gold. This isn’t lack of patriotism, it’s prudent risk management based on what happened to Pakistanis who kept everything in Rupees.
If You’re Planning Retirement: Social Safety Net Reality Check
Bangladesh’s social programs are expanding but remain underfunded compared to actual needs. The National Social Security Strategy aims to provide basic support, but benefits are minimal. Pakistan’s example shows how quickly safety nets collapse under sustained fiscal pressure, leaving retirees without promised pensions.
Building personal reserves matters more than ever given structural uncertainties ahead. Government pensions alone won’t provide comfortable retirement unless you’re in a very senior position. Private savings, family support systems, and income-generating assets become essential, not optional.
Calculate retirement needs assuming inflation averages 7-8% annually, not the official 5-6% targets. If you need 50,000 taka monthly today, you’ll need 100,000 taka in 10 years just to maintain the same lifestyle. Most people underestimate this dramatically.
If You’re Running a Business: Export Opportunities and Risks
Bangladesh’s preferential trade access won’t last forever. LDC graduation in 2026 means competing without duty-free privileges that gave our garments cost advantage. Are you investing enough in quality improvements, automation, and moving up the value chain? Or betting everything on low-cost labor that won’t be competitive much longer?
Pakistan lost textile competitiveness through poor infrastructure, energy shortages, and policy inconsistencies. Are we investing enough in reliable power, efficient ports, and stable business policies? Interest rates hovering around 9-11% make business expansion expensive. Foreign exchange availability determines whether you can import raw materials or face production shutdowns.
Sectors beyond ready-made garments offering realistic diversification: pharmaceuticals, light engineering, IT services, agro-processing. The government talks about these, but actual support mechanisms remain weak. Your business strategy can’t wait for perfect government policies.
If You Have Children: Education Investment Lessons
Pakistan’s chronic underinvestment in education created permanent competitive disadvantage for entire generations. Their youth unemployment exceeds 30% partly because skills don’t match market needs. Bangladesh’s school enrollment gains need quality improvements to deliver full economic returns.
Your child’s future opportunities depend on maintaining education budget priority through political changes. Private education costs keep rising faster than inflation, so start saving early. English proficiency, STEM skills, and critical thinking matter more than rote memorization, but our education system still rewards memorization.
Think of education spending like compound interest for the entire nation. Each year’s investment pays dividends for 40-50 years of working life. Cutting education budgets to balance fiscal deficits is borrowing from the future to pay for today’s expenses.
The Next 12 Months: What to Actually Watch
Base Case: Slow Healing, Less Drama
Bangladesh’s growth path likely settles in the 4-5% range if reforms continue and political stability improves. That’s solid but slower than our recent 6-7% pace. Pakistan’s stabilization suggests cautious 2-3% growth if they comply with IMF conditions. Both countries face global economic slowdown affecting remittances and export demand simultaneously.
Your daily life improves when three indicators stabilize together: inflation trending down toward 6-7%, forex reserves holding steady or growing, and currency depreciation slowing to 3-5% annually. Watch Bangladesh Bank’s monthly reports for these metrics.
Remittances from expatriate workers remain crucial for both economies. Bangladesh receives $22+ billion annually, Pakistan around $27 billion. Any global recession reducing construction jobs in the Middle East hits both countries hard. The 2008 financial crisis showed how quickly remittances can collapse.
Good Case: Reforms Stick, Confidence Returns
Stable, consistent economic policies attract investment and job creation better than incentives alone. Investors value predictability over tax holidays. If Bangladesh demonstrates policy continuity through political transitions, if banking sector cleanup actually happens, if infrastructure investment continues, the growth potential exceeds current projections.
Continued IMF and World Bank support arrives when reforms prove credible through actual implementation, not just promises. Pakistan’s pattern shows how conditionality works: implement reforms, get next tranche, backslide on reforms, face delayed disbursements. Bangladesh has better track record but can’t be complacent.
Successfully diversifying beyond garments would transform the entire growth trajectory permanently. Electronics, pharmaceuticals, IT services each offering $10-20 billion export potential if we build capabilities. Vietnam shows the path: they diversified from garments to electronics, now Samsung, Intel, and others run major operations there.
Bad Case: Shock Plus Politics Equals Currency Panic
Forex reserves dropping below $20 billion triggers import controls and shortages immediately. Fuel rationing, medicine shortages, industrial production halts because raw materials can’t be imported. This isn’t hypothetical, Sri Lanka lived this nightmare in 2022.
Parallel market exchange rate diverging sharply from official rate signals lost confidence. When people rush to buy dollars at any price, when businesses hoard foreign currency, when exporters delay bringing earnings home, the crisis accelerates. Pakistan’s Rupee collapsed partly because nobody trusted official rates.
Political turmoil delaying IMF disbursements creates liquidity crisis fast. Foreign currency needed for debt repayments, fuel imports, and essential goods runs out. This forces emergency measures, capital controls, import bans, all the symptoms of balance of payments crisis.
Headlines matter, but daily prices matter more. If onion prices actually stabilize, if electricity bills stop shocking you, if you can plan expenses without constant currency concerns, that’s real economic stability regardless of what newspapers report.
Conclusion
Bangladesh didn’t just overtake Pakistan economically. We proved every pessimistic prediction wrong through specific, deliberate choices: empowering women instead of sidelining them, investing in people over military hardware, choosing global integration over protective isolation, and maintaining economic policy continuity despite repeated political chaos. Pakistan’s current crisis wasn’t inevitable destiny. It resulted from decades of prioritizing the wrong things: military spending over education, aid dependency over export competitiveness, elite capture over broad-based development, and political instability over institutional strength.
But here’s the truth that matters for your family’s future: sustaining this lead requires the same discipline that created it in the first place. Watch our inflation rate closely every month. Question our banking sector’s health loudly. Demand economic diversification beyond garments persistently. Push for climate resilience investments now. Pakistan’s trajectory from regional leader to crisis-ridden economy happened gradually over decades, then suddenly in months when accumulated problems overwhelmed the system.
Your one action today: Open your notes app and track just three numbers monthly: Bangladesh’s inflation rate from Bangladesh Bank reports, forex reserves level published by Bangladesh Bank (accessible at Bangladesh Bank official site), and GDP growth outlook from quarterly updates. When those three stabilize together, your daily life usually feels calmer too. The World Bank Bangladesh country profile provides independent verification of official statistics and development indicators worth checking quarterly.
Economic success isn’t permanent or guaranteed. It’s earned daily through smart choices, honest governance, and citizens who stay informed enough to demand real accountability. Bangladesh proved everyone wrong once. Now we need to prove we can sustain it through the harder test ahead, because maintaining prosperity requires different skills than achieving it in the first place.
Bangladesh Pakistan Economy Comparison (FAQs)
Why is Bangladesh’s economy stronger than Pakistan’s?
Yes, primarily due to export-oriented manufacturing. Bangladesh focused on ready-made garments earning $47 billion annually while empowering women workers. Pakistan’s military spending and political instability diverted resources from productive sectors. Manufacturing contributes 32% of Bangladesh’s GDP versus Pakistan’s 13.6%.
What is the GDP difference between Bangladesh and Pakistan?
Yes, Bangladesh’s GDP reached $451 billion versus Pakistan’s $373 billion despite smaller population. Per capita GDP shows bigger gap: Bangladesh $2,675 versus Pakistan $1,485. This reflects decades of faster growth rates compounding, Bangladesh averaged 6-7% annually while Pakistan managed 3-4%.
How do Bangladesh and Pakistan foreign exchange reserves compare?
Yes, significantly different. Bangladesh maintains $28-32 billion in forex reserves covering 4-5 months of imports according to Bangladesh Bank data. Pakistan struggles with $13-15 billion barely covering 2 months from State Bank of Pakistan reports. This determines economic stability and import capacity.
Which country has better economic growth, Bangladesh or Pakistan?
Bangladesh consistently outperforms. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics reported 5.82% growth in FY 2023-24 while Pakistan projected 3.5% according to State Bank of Pakistan. Asian Development Bank forecasts continue showing Bangladesh 1.5-2 percentage points higher annually, compounding into massive differences over time.
What factors caused Bangladesh to overtake Pakistan economically?
Five critical factors: female workforce participation doubled Pakistan’s rate, population growth controlled at 1.2% versus 2.1%, export-focused manufacturing over import substitution, education spending at 11% budget versus Pakistan’s 2.5%, and political continuity in economic policy. Military spending difference freed billions for development annually.