Environment Related Trade Barriers and the WTO

This paper looks at some of the environment related trade measures which may appear to be trade barriers at times in the context of the WTO. It also briefly discusses WTO Agreements on environmental measures and the use of environment related trade measures. The paper finally articulates the interests of LDCs in the area of trade and environment and how their concerns can be protected.WTO, Environment, trade barriers

Accra Conference on Aid Effectiveness - Perspectives from Bangladesh

This paper seeks to articulate the perspectives from Bangladesh as an aid recipient country on the evolving international aid system and more particularly on the Accra agenda. Based on secondary information from various sources including the Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance (MoF), OECD DAC Survey and Economic Review of the Ministry of Finance this paper briefly discusses the changing aid scenario in the context of Bangladesh and highlights some of the key issues related to aid effectiveness during the run up to the Accra HLF3. The paper also draws information from interviews of Development Partners working in Bangladesh to understand their perspectives on the bottlenecks of implementation of Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness in Bangladesh.Bangladesh, Aid, Aid effectiveness, Accra, Accra Conference

Environmental Debates in the WTO: Defining Bangladesh’s Interests

Prepared under CPD's Capacity Building in Trade-Environment Issues in Bangladesh: Addressing the WTO Work Programme, the paper makes an attempt to analyse environmental issues in the context of multilateral trading systems and the developments taking place in the WTO, particularly in the context of their relevance to Bangladesh. While Part A focuses on various multilateral agreements in the WTO on environmental issues, Part B deals with liberalisation of environmental goods and services. Part C critically analyses the effects of environmental measures on market access. The paper highlights a range of environmental issues and debates emerging in the WTO, keeping in view Bangladesh's interests and puts forward a number of recommendations as regards Bangladesh's policy stance with respect to some of the key issues in the upcoming negotiations.WTO, Environment, Bangladesh

Ongoing WTO Negotiations and Bangladesh’s Interests: Insights from CPD’s October 2002 Tracking Mission to Geneva

The paper is based on the participation of CPD delegation in Geneva and gives an insight into the particular issue of priority interest to Bangladesh in the context of the ongoing negotiations including GATS, AoA, TRIPS and Market Access.The paper provides an understanding about the important implications of the ongoing Doha Development Round negotiations for Bangladesh and other least developed countries (LDCs) both in terms of accessing the opportunities emanating from the evolving global trading system, and also from the perspective of addressing the attendant challenges.WTO-General Council, Tracking Mission, Geneva, Bangladesh

Role of Elaborate Cardiotocography (CTG) in Pregnancy Management

Background: Elaborate Cardiotocography (CTG) is the most commonly used test for antepartum and intrapartum fetal surveillance because it gives information via the cerebro-cardiac response of fetal cerebral activity, which is modified by the hypoxia. Objective: This study was designed to compare the perinatal outcomes among the normal and abnormal CTG groups. Method: It was a prospective observational study carried out in the Department of obstetrics, BSMMU during the period July 2006 to July 2008. Hundred consecutive normal and hundred consecutive abnormal CTC tracings were collected from patients who were advised to perform CTG after admission. Both labour and non-labour patients were included. Interpretation of CTG was done based on FlGO recommendation (1987). Pregnancy and neonatal data were obtained and the findings were correlated with the FHR tracing. Statistical analysis was carried out by student's unpaired t-test, X2 and Z-test. Level of significance was set at P value < 0.05. Results: Out of 100 abnormal CTG, 30% had tachycardia, 42% had deceleration, 38% was non reactive, 4% had absence beat-to-beat variability and 4% had fetal bradycardia. There was significantly higher caesarean delivery, lower apgar score, higher requirement of neonatal resuscitation and admission at neonatal unit and higher perinatal death among the abnormal CTG group. The abnormal fetal outcome was found highest in heart rate deceleration group. Conclusion: CTG can be continued as a good screening test of fetal surveillance but it is not the sole criteria to influence the management of high-risk pregnancies. Abnormal CTG should be supplemented with other test before intervention. Key words: CTG; Perinatal outcome.DOI: 10.3329/bsmmuj.v2i1.3706 BSMMU J 2009; 2(1): 18-2

Investigating the determinants of inflationary trends in Bangladesh: an ARDL bounds F-Test Approach

Inflation appears to have emerged as a perennial phenomenon in Bangladesh in the recent past. High inflationary trend that began to show up since the second quarter of FY2010 continued throughout FY2011 and FY2012. In this regard, an empirical examination to explore the major sources of inflation is necessary for effective policy suggestions towards curbing inflationary pressure, ensuring price stability and attaining the desired economic growth. This paper investigates major determining factors of inflationary trends in Bangladesh during the period FY1981 to FY2009. An unrestricted error-correction model (UECM) version auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds F-test is employed to find out the short run and long run elasticities of the determinants of inflation. Empirical result reveals that domestic rice production affects inflation negatively in the short run to a significant extent. Conversely, domestic petroleum price and broad money (M2) supply have low but positive impact on inflationary trends. This suggests that increased domestic rice production and effective fiscal-monetary integration are the crucial policy options to curb the inflationary pressure in Bangladesh

Investigating the determinants of inflationary trends in Bangladesh: an ARDL bounds F-Test Approach

Inflation appears to have emerged as a perennial phenomenon in Bangladesh in the recent past. High inflationary trend that began to show up since the second quarter of FY2010 continued throughout FY2011 and FY2012. In this regard, an empirical examination to explore the major sources of inflation is necessary for effective policy suggestions towards curbing inflationary pressure, ensuring price stability and attaining the desired economic growth. This paper investigates major determining factors of inflationary trends in Bangladesh during the period FY1981 to FY2009. An unrestricted error-correction model (UECM) version auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds F-test is employed to find out the short run and long run elasticities of the determinants of inflation. Empirical result reveals that domestic rice production affects inflation negatively in the short run to a significant extent. Conversely, domestic petroleum price and broad money (M2) supply have low but positive impact on inflationary trends. This suggests that increased domestic rice production and effective fiscal-monetary integration are the crucial policy options to curb the inflationary pressure in Bangladesh

Investigating the determinants of inflationary trends in Bangladesh: an ARDL bounds F-Test Approach

Inflation appears to have emerged as a perennial phenomenon in Bangladesh in the recent past. High inflationary trend that began to show up since the second quarter of FY2010 continued throughout FY2011 and FY2012. In this regard, an empirical examination to explore the major sources of inflation is necessary for effective policy suggestions towards curbing inflationary pressure, ensuring price stability and attaining the desired economic growth. This paper investigates major determining factors of inflationary trends in Bangladesh during the period FY1981 to FY2009. An unrestricted error-correction model (UECM) version auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds F-test is employed to find out the short run and long run elasticities of the determinants of inflation. Empirical result reveals that domestic rice production affects inflation negatively in the short run to a significant extent. Conversely, domestic petroleum price and broad money (M2) supply have low but positive impact on inflationary trends. This suggests that increased domestic rice production and effective fiscal-monetary integration are the crucial policy options to curb the inflationary pressure in Bangladesh