Since April 2019, Youthonomics, the monthly essay writing competition for the youth, organized by SANEM, has become a platform for young intellectuals for academic and policy discussions and debate. Through Youthonomics, SANEM encourages young writers to voice their views and opinions on socio-economic issues. SANEM awards prize money and certificates to the winners of each episode of Youthonomics. SANEM believes that engaging the youth in an intellectual and academic discussion is essential for developing a more informed and rational society.

The 6th episode of Youthonomics was held in September 2019. The topic of Youthonomics 6 was “Diversification of Export Basket: Prospects and Challenges for Bangladesh”. In their articles, participants presented their assessment of the emerging challenges in the export-diversification of Bangladesh, feasible policy suggestions, along with proposals on the mechanism of implementation in their respective articles.Trade is essential for robust growth. However, to strengthen the trade regime of Bangladesh, it is necessary to diversify the export basket of Bangladesh. Export diversification refers to increase in exports of various products such as medicine, leather, glass, ceramics, cement, ships, light engineering products, microchips, smartphones, computer, and IT-related products, apart from the main export-earning item readymade garments- that the country has been exporting over the decades. On the other hand, destination of the country’s exported products is also highly concentrated in Europe and USA. It is being increasingly realized that without export diversification, Bangladesh’s growth projectile will face serious obstacles. But, has the country developed the structural capacity to accommodate diversification ventures? Bangladesh is set to graduate from least developed country (LDC) to a developing country in 2024. With this new tag of middle income country, Bangladesh will lose the right of getting low interest loans and other trade benefits. So in this decade, for rapid growth and a stable economy, there is no alternative to export diversification. The sooner diversification in export is initiated, the stronger the economy will be in the near future.

The winners of episode 6 were:

• 1st place: Saeed Anwar, Department of Economics, Jahangirnagar University

• 2nd place: Nishat Tasneem, Department of Economics, Khulna University and Nabila Noshin, Department of Economics, North South University

• 3rd place: Foysal Ahmed, Department of Economics, Dhaka School of Economics and Fahmida Akter, Department of Health Economics, University of Dhaka

The prizes were distributed among the winners at SANEM office.

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