Bangladesh. Informal economy under stress

In the bustling lanes of Dhaka's Karwan Bazar, Rina Begum, a 42-year-old street vendor, arranges fresh vegetables on her wooden cart before sunrise. Her business-unregistered, untaxed, and absent from official GDP reports-is part of Bangladesh's informal economy, a vast network of small-scale, unregulated ventures that employ millions. Globally, the informal sector accounts for over 60 per cent of employment; in Bangladesh, it sustains 85 per cent of the workforce, from rickshaw pullers to home-based garment workers. Yet, as inflation...