For a crowded and impoverished coun-try, blighted by misrule, natural disasters and notable to many outsiders for Islamist terrorism, Bangladesh has done rather well in recent years. Under a four-party ruling coalition, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the economy has grown tenaciously, at 6.7% in the last financial year. Backed by generous remittances and a fast-growing garment industry, the country has made good use of its only abundant resource, labour. Yet its sudden growth spurt, as so often in poor places, has exacerbated hardships too. Rising inflation has made the government increasingly unpopular; so have shortages of power, food and foreign exchange. With elections due in January, that may explain an ugly pact this week between the BNP and the country's disgraced former dicta-tor, Hossain Mohammad Ershad.
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