1.0  Country: People's Republic of Bangladesh

2.0  Independence and National Day: 26 March
 
3.0  Nationality: Bangladeshi

 
The national flag is bottle green in colour and rectangular in size with the length to width ratio of 10:6 bearing a red circle on the body of the green. The red circle has a radius of one fifth of the length of the flag. Its centre is placed on the middle of the perpendicular drawn from the nine twentieth part of the flag. The background colour symbolizes the greenery of Bangladesh with its vitality and youthfulness while the red disc represents the rising sun and the sacrifice our people made to obtain our independence.
 

5.0  National Anthem: Written by Bengali Poet Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

6.0 Coat of Arms: The National Emblem of Bangladesh was adopted shortly after independence in 1971. The emblem features a water lily, national flower of Bangladesh at the centre. It is bordered on two sides by rice sheaves. Above the water lily at the centre point is a three-leaf clover of tea leaves with two stars on each side. Rice is the staple food of Bangladesh, and represents the predominant feature of its rural landscape and agriculture. The four stars represent the four founding principles that were originally enshrined in the first Constitution of Bangladesh in 1972 ; nationalism, secularism, socialism, and democracy.

7.0  National Bird: Magpie Robin
 
8.0  National Animal: The Royal Bengal Tiger
 
9.0  National Flower: Water Lily (Shapla)
10.0 National Monument: The National Monument reminds of those who sacrificed their lives for the independence in 1971.
11.0 Government: Bangladesh has a parliamentary form of government. The President is the executive head of the state, while the Prime Minister acts as the Head of the Government.
12.0 National Parliament: The Parliament is unicameral and called 'Jatiya Sangsad' in Bangla. It has 345 seats. Three hundred members are directly elected while 45 seats are reserved for women who are elected by the, MPs. The tenure of the Parliament is five years. The Parliament is a sovereign body with a separate secretariat. The Speaker, along with the Deputy Speaker, Whips and panel of Chairmen run the sessions of Parliament. There are Parliamentary Standing Committees for different ministries, which serve as parliamentary watchdogs over the activities of the Government.
13.0 National Museum: Bangladesh National Museum preserves and displays the cultural property and heritage, as well as specimens of natural history of Bangladesh. Its mission is to establish a bridge between the past and the present and uphold the national tradition and culture.
14.0 Geography: Bangladesh covers an area of 147,570 sq km, a little more than the size of Greece. It extends from 20°34N to 26°38N latitude and from 88°01E to 92°41E longitude. Maximum extension is about 440 km in the E-W direction and 760 km in the NNW-SSE direction. The Indian States of west Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura border Bangladesh in the west, north and east respectively. Myanmar forms the southern part of the eastern frontier. The total length of the land border is about 4,246 km, of which 93.9% is shared with India and about 6.1% with Myanmar. The country is bounded in the south by the bay of Bengal. Although Bangladesh is a small country, the length of the coastline is more than 580 km. The territorial waters of Bangladesh extend 12 nautical miles (22.22 km) and the area of the high seas extending to 200 nautical miles (370.40 km) measured from the base lines constitutes the economic zone of the country. The Bay of Bengal is well-known for its cyclones, which whip up its water, sending them crashing onto the coastal plains of the offshore islands, occasionally causing floods. Bangladesh is fringed on the southwest by the huge expanse of mangrove forest known as sundarbans, the abode of the famous Royal Bengal tiger.
Further details..Geography of Bangladesh
15. History of Bangladesh:
History Recorded history traceable to the 4th century B.C. with clear evidence of flourishing civilization  consisting of cities, palaces, temples, forts, seats of learning and monasteries.
1200 Advent of Islam, enjoying periods of prosperity under Muslim rule till 1757.
1757 Beginning of British colonial rule.
1947 British colonial rule comes to an end. Present Bangladesh territory (East Bengal) became East Pakistan as part of Pakistan.
1971
Emergence of the sovereign state of Bangladesh through a 9-month long war of liberation.
16.0  Economy
Acclaimed for sound macroeconomic management and significant progress in achieving MDGs, Bangladesh makes strides towards rapid economic development and social progress. In 2006, Bangladesh’s GDP grew by 6.5 percent. In its Bangladesh Country Overview 2006, the World Bank has observed that “Bangladesh has recorded impressive economic and social gains since the 1990s”. It has noted in particular the following:
  •       Steady economic growth of 4-5% annually, relatively low inflation, and fairly stable domestic debt, interest, and exchange rates.
  •       This growth performance, coupled with an impressive decline in the population growth rate from 2.5% in the 1980s to 1.7% in 1990-2004, has led to a doubling of annual per capita GDP growth, from 1.6% in the 1980s to 3.3% in 1990-2004.
The International Monetary Fund in its November 2006 Report noted that “Bangladesh is reducing poverty and making headway toward meeting its MDGs.” The Fund has noted: “Sustained growth and innovative social programs have supported a steady reduction in extreme rural poverty, with the headcount ratio declining by 9 percentage points to 40 percent in the five years to 2005, according to preliminary data. Progress on most human development indicators is impressive, placing Bangladesh well on the way to meeting many of its MDGs. The remaining social and economic challenges are daunting, however, as a large part of the population remains below the poverty line.
In terms of per capita GDP growth, Bangladesh outperformed both IDA-only countries and low-income countries in this period. This growth record was also accompanied by more stable growth, itself a function of Bangladesh’s improved disaster management capacity.
Bangladesh & the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
The IMF has noted that “Bangladesh has taken large strides toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals”. In its latest Report, the Fund has highlighted that, “The country has outperformed most low-income countries on a range of social indicators:  
  •      It increased gross primary enrollment from 72% in 1980 to 98% in 2001 and has already attained the MDG of eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary enrollment.
  •    With the sharp decline in infant mortality from 145 to 46 per 1,000 live births between 1970 and 2003, and in child mortality from 239 to 69 per 1,000, Bangladesh is set to achieve the targeted two-thirds reduction from 1990 levels by 2015. Food security has improved markedly, even for the very poor.
  •  There have also been steady gains in income poverty: the share of the population in poverty declined from 59% in 1990 to 50% in 2000, with rural areas accounting for nearly four-fifths of this decline.
  •  Bangladesh’s actual values for fertility, infant and child mortality, contraceptive prevalence, and crude birth and death rates are much better than would be predicted for a country at its income level.” 
The IMF has acclaimed macro-economic performance of Bangladesh and noted the following achievements:
  •  Economic growth has averaged 6 percent in the past four years.
  •  Reform of the foreign exchange regime has made possible sustained growth in exports and remittances, helped the economy to weather external shocks from rising.
  • Oil prices and the end of the Multi-Fiber Agreement quotas, and facilitated the buildup of international reserves.
  • Continued trade reform and more integration with global and regional economies are reflected in the increase of international trade from 28 percent of GDP in FY2000 to 38 percent of GDP in FY06.
  •  Monetary tightening has helped contain inflationary pressures from rising food and transport prices.
  •  Fiscal sustainability has been protected by limiting domestic financing of the budget deficit to 2 percent of GDP, and central government debt has been contained at 47 percent of GDP.
Inflation
  •       Rate of inflation was (12 months’ point to point) 7.61% in May 2006
  •       FY 06 saw rise in inflation on the back of strong growth in money supply, credit, weaker taka, increased oil and commodities price.
  •       However, oil price feed through has been limited and government administers prices of other energy sources such as natural gas and electricity as well.
Business Environment
The World Investment Report 2006 brought out by UNCTAD recorded Bangladesh as registering a 50 percent growth in FDI in 2005, the second highest in South Asia. FDI in 2006 was estimated at US$692 million as against $460 million in 2004 and $350 million in 2003. These again, are impressive rates of growth, and would certainly not obtain if market perceptions were not optimistic. In fact, if the IMF’s definition of FDI is employed (recognizing reinvestment of profits as FDI), the 2005 FDI figures stood at US$845 million, an increase of 84 percent over FY 2004. This indeed, is the highest increase amongst countries in percentage terms, over the reporting period. - IMF Country Report No. 06/406, November 2006
Foreign Exchange Regulations 
  •       Foreign exchange transactions are guided by Foreign Exchange Regulation (FER) Act,  1947 and Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Transactions (Vol I & II), 1996
  •       Current Account was made convertible in March 1994 in Bangladesh. Capital Account payments are only subject to Central Bank approval.
  •       Bangladesh Taka exchange rate against USD was made floating from May 31, 2003. Market forces now determine the USD BDT exchange rate.
Foreign Exchange Reserve
  •           FX reserve grew at an CAGR of 21.67% since FY 2002
  •           FX Reserve at the end of FY 2006 was USD 3.48 Bn
  •           Present reserve is 2.86 month’s import
  •           Reserve growth is backed by strong worker remittance and export figures.
  •           75% of exports in the garment/knitwear category
     
    Export Performance
    Bangladesh’s Export in FY 2006 was estimated at a record high of 10.53 billion (year to year growth of 21.63%.
    Financing of National Budget
  •       Actual Fiscal deficit in FY06 estimated at 3.9% of GDP was lower than the budgeted deficit for the year (Source: ADB Quarterly Economic Update, June 2006)
  •       The Financing of FY06 deficit was made 51% from domestic & 49 foreign sources
  •       Bangladesh funds entire current expenditure from own revenue sources and funds part of the development expenditures by borrowing from both domestic and  external sources.
  •      Overall borrowing levels and external borrowing levels are not high. Total external debt at the end of FY 05 was approximately USD 18.5 bn (almost 1/3 of GDP).
  •       Bangladesh has never defaulted any of its foreign debt repayment obligations till date.
  1. Source: http://www.banglaembassy.com.bh/CountryBrief.htm

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