Bangladesh, Sept. 10 -- National Professor Mahbub Ullah recently described Bangladesh as a "plunder economy," arguing that extortion operates as a form of informal taxation that distorts investment and prevents the economy from becoming genuinely productive. His characterisation is provocative, but it raises an even more important question: is Bangladesh primarily suffering from an extortion economy, or has extortion become only one component of a much broader architecture of plunder?

Advertisement He made the remarks at a seminar titled "Economic Outlook and Emerging Challenges: Priorities for the Coming Days," jointly organised by the Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) and the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in Dhaka last week. The disti...