Staff Correspondent: Bangladesh is set to receive the final recommendation to exit the LDC Group. Bangladesh has been on the UN's Least Developed Countries list since 1975.

The UN Committee for Development Policy (CDP) may make the announcement on Friday (February 26th) night after a three-year review. The CDP is going to make this recommendation to Bangladesh after a five-day virtual meeting from February 22.

According to the rules, the final recognition comes 3 years after the CDP's recommendation. But in the meeting with the CDP on January 15, Bangladesh asked for two more years. If the CDP recommends Bangladesh with that request, it will get final recognition in 2026.

Bangladesh may have to wait another 5 years to get the final recognition of being a fully developing country out of the LDCs. And that final recognition will come at the UN General Assembly that year.

For this,a country will get recommended for graduation if it can fulfil the criteria in two tri-annual reviews in a row. LDCs are evaluated every three years. Per capita income, human assets, economic and environmental vulnerability -these three indicators determine whether a country can become a developing country. Bangladesh has met, for the second time, all the three eligibility criteria for LDC graduation.

In the 2018 Bangladesh fulfilled all the criteria necessary for its elevation to a developing country.

After the formal graduation, Bangladesh will lose the benefits for LDCs, like soft loans and export facilities, however, it will enjoy those benefits in the five years of preparatory time..

Sun News