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Bangladesh

Country Brief - The global food and economic crisis’ impact on food system resilience: Bangladesh (November, 2023)

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Background

The war in Ukraine has major implications for food security and diets across the world, given both countries’ key roles in global food markets and Russia’s prominence in global energy trade. The resulting global food and economic crisis risks heightening inequalities and vulnerabilities in a world still confronting the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, food system resilience is crucial to maintain or adapt its functions in the face of shocks, and ultimately for system sustainability. Through a series of key indicators, this brief describes how the food system has been affected by this ongoing crisis and provides an overview of its resilience and potential opportunities for building resilience further.

HOW HAS BANGLADESH BEEN EXPOSED TO SHOCKS SINCE 2020?

In the last 3 years, Bangladesh has faced shocks that have affected the food system and its resilience in various ways. Like the rest of the world, the country was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. To minimize COVID-19 spread, the government rapidly implemented strict containment strategies such as school closure, restrictions of movements (e.g., countrywide lockdowns, curfews, travel restrictions) and public gatherings among others, which can impact various domains of the food system (e.g., supply chain, consumer environment, consumer behaviors). After this initial phase, those stringent measures were adapted based on transmission rates but remained at a high level until mid-2021. After this point, the measures were then progressively lifted. Following the same timeline, the government also adopted supportive economic policies and social protection programs, which included measures such as emergency cash transfer to informal workers and vulnerable households (Figure 1). Overall, the Bangladesh currency (Bangladeshi Taka, BDT) exchange rate – relative to the US dollar (USD) – has been relatively stable pre-crisis, ranging between 78 and 84 BDT per USD from 2012 to 2019. During the crisis period, this stability persisted in 2020 and 2021. However, a change in trend was observed in 2022, with an 8% depreciation of the BDT (from 85 to 92 BDT per USD).

Due to a combination of political, geographic, and social factors, Bangladesh is recognized as highly vulnerable to climate change impacts and is ranked 163rd out of 185 countries in the 2021 ND-GAIN Index. Besides shocks related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine (which are also captured in WFP Bangladesh Market Monitor reports) , Bangladesh is also prone to numerous natural hazards, such as floods, cyclones, earthquakes, and droughts. Cyclones and floods particularly cause massive damages, such as the ones experienced in 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2022 (Figure 3). In addition to these climatic events, a 2022 report also cited increased temperatures and salinity intrusion as significantly exacerbating vulnerabilities and impacting people’s food security by lowering agricultural productivity and threatening rural livelihoods.