Bangladesh backslides in commitment to reducing inequality: Oxfam
Down from its 2nd position in the last Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index, Bangladesh now stands in 5th place in South Asia, only ahead of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan
Bangladesh has experienced a significant setback in its commitment to reducing inequality, dropping 17 spots to rank 124th out of 164 countries on the 2024 Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index.
The fifth edition of the index released on Monday (21 October) by Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI), using the latest data from government budgets, ranked 164 governments on their policies regarding public services spending (education, health and social protection), progressive taxation, and labour rights and wages — policies central to reducing inequality.
In the previous edition of the index released in 2022, Bangladesh ranked 107th globally and 2nd in South Asia. In 2020, the country held the 113th position worldwide and was 5th in South Asia. Back in 2018, Bangladesh stood at 148th globally and 7th in the region.
This year, Bangladesh once again dropped to 5th place in South Asia, performing better than India (127th), Pakistan (141st), and Afghanistan (144th).
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
The Maldives, the only upper middle-income country in South Asia, leads the region in its commitment to reducing inequality, ranking 66th globally, followed by Nepal (115th), Sri Lanka (118th), and Bhutan (122nd).
However, all South Asian nations experienced a drop in ranking in 2024 from the previous index.
Bangladesh's performance in the pillars
Bangladesh's overall ranking in the index has worsened due to its declining position in the tax progressivity, and labour rights, and wages pillars.
The country dropped 24 places to rank 71st in the progressive taxation pillar, which measures the government's commitment to designing and collecting taxes in a way that places a greater burden on those who can afford it the most. The country was ranked 47th in 2022.
Bangladesh stands out as the best in progressive taxation among the pillars.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh has been named as the fourth biggest faller in the labour rights and wages pillar among all the countries assessed in the index, falling 17 places to stand in the 118th position. It was 101st in the previous edition.
The labour rights and wage equality pillar assesses the efforts of governments to protect workers in their economies through legislation regarding workers' rights, gender equality in the workplace and minimum wages.
On the other hand, Bangladesh has consistently ranked low in the public service spending pillar, although its ranking moved up one place to 135th in the latest index.
The public services pillar measures government commitment to investing in three key sectors including education, health and social protection – in ways which reduce inequality.
This year's edition showed that, for the first time since the Index began in 2017, the majority of countries were backsliding across all three critical areas, read the report.
Overall, 84% of countries have cut investment in education, health and social protection, 81% weakened their tax systems' ability to reduce inequality, and in 90% of them, labour rights and minimum wages have worsened.
In fact, the report mentioned, "at least nine out of ten countries are implementing policies and actions likely to increase economic inequality."
The CRI does not aim to measure inequality, instead, it focuses on what each government is doing to fight inequality.
Wealthy OECD countries continue to be at the top
The top performers in this index are all high-income Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, led by Norway, Canada, Australia, Germany, and Finland.
The report highlighted, "Due to their labour policies, these countries start from much lower wage inequality. They have high social spending and collect more tax revenue, allowing widespread coverage of public services and the greatest impact on inequality."
Meanwhile, South Sudan continues to be at the bottom of the index followed by Nigeria, Vanuatu, Haiti and Zimbabwe. The bottom performers are low- and lower-middle-income countries.
"The world's governments are doing even less to fight inequality, worsening extremism and undermining growth. With the World Bank adopting a new anti-inequality target, the World Bank and IMF have a new opportunity to champion policies which cut inequality —free public services, fairer tax systems, and stronger labour rights. They must seize this with both hands," said Matthew Martin, executive director of DFI.
