Dhaka, Feb. 3 -- Among the constituent macroeconomic policies, trade policy in Bangladesh typically draws the least attention, until it does. Since 2022, though the focus has been largely on trade and current account deficits and the financial account of the balance of payments (BOP), researchers on trade policy have drawn attention to the mismanagement of exchange rate and the high protective tariffs as among the sources of macroeconomic instability. The link between trade policy and Bangladesh development in the short-, medium-, and long-term is unambiguous.

Trade has been a handmaiden of Bangladesh development. After two decades of prevarication, in the 1990s policymakers in Bangladesh switched gear and changed trade policy stance, dr...