Dhaka, May 11 -- Bangladesh's trade policy has long operated as a contradictory mix of export promotion and import protectionism, with its average tariff burden of 28 percent far exceeding the global average of 6 percent and even surpassing peer lower-middle income countries at 7.2 percent, a leading economist said Monday.

Zaidi Sattar, Chairman of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI), made the observations while delivering the keynote address at a roundtable titled "Trade Policy, Industrial Protection, Investment Impacts, and Consumer Welfare," organised by PRI's Center for Trade Policy and Protection Research (CTPPR) with support from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

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