The number of ultra-high rich population has grown significantly in Bangladesh over the last six years, which analyst described as rather surprising.
The World Ultra Wealth Report 2018 by WEALTH-X, published on Sept 5, said the ultra-high net worth (UHNW) population in the South Asian country posted a 17.3 percent growth between 2012 and 2017.
Bangladesh ranked top among the fastest growing country in the world in terms of its increasing rich population.
Analysts were surprised over the report by the US-based firm, which they said was ‘an attempt to claim Bangladesh as a poverty-free nation’.
“A sudden rise in the number of rich population is really surprising for a poor country like Bangladesh,” said economist Khondaker Golam Moazzem.
According to him, a few people or companies are amassing wealth and many of them make fortune over loans taken from banks which they didn’t return.
“Every business sector is apparently controlled by one or two people or groups, so no competition exists in market system,” said Moazzem, a director at Dhaka-based private think-tank Central for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
The UHNW referred to individuals with a net worth of $30 million (Tk 2.52 billion approximately) or more as the ultra-rich.
"Looking at a broader range of nations, China - perhaps surprisingly - is not the global leader. That status lies with Bangladesh, which has registered compound annual growth in its UHNW population of 17.3 percent since 2012,” the report said.
Apart from Bangladesh, four other countries posted double digit growth in terms of their rich population — China (13.4 percent), Vietnam (12.7 percent), Kenya (11.7 percent) and India (10.7 percent).
Analyst Khandakar Ibrahim Khaled described the rise of rich population a violation of the Constitution.
“As said in the Constitution, the state’s principle of economy is socialism that advocates for uprooting discrimination in terms of wealth,” he said.
Article 8 of the Constitution said that socialism, one of four fundamental principles of state policy, shall form the basis of the work of the State and of its citizens.
He blamed the government for following capitalism instead of socialism and “sometimes it even exceeds Chain and the USA in doing so”.
“Consequently, only top five percent people become the beneficiary of the seven-percent economic growth,” he said.
“The rich is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer. Even the lower mid-income group is not graduating to mid-income, let alone any improvement for low-income group,” said Khaled, a former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank.
Khaled also echoed CPD director Moazzem on how people are getting richer.
“A large part of them (the rich) became wealthy stealing bank’s money while others made money from different (development) projects,” he said.
Data from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2016 by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics shows income of the country’s top 5 percent rich population increased by 57 percent with an income of Tk 88,941 a month.
Income of the bottom five percent decreased by 59 percent standing to Tk 733 per month, according to the survey.