Effects of Brexit on Less Developed Countries

[ChariotOfFire]

Evening! I've not posted in this section before, so hello.

I've been thinking lately about the effects of Brexit on places like Bangladesh; I read the other day that the price in U.K£ of clothes made in Bangladesh would go up by about 15%, and that could sound like a good thing as we pay a pittance for clothes in Primark et al. However, this report from Bangladesh says that this isn't such a good thing after all as demand will drop, so overall the Bangladeshi economy will suffer as a result of Brexit:

here

And this less optimistic forecast is shared among other countries:

here

I'm not sure what I want to ask, really. I guess a few things: did anyone anticipate the negative impact that Brexit would have on very vulnerable ecomomies like Bangladesh? Is there anything that the UK can or should do now to alleviate the economic loss to these countries?

[whatwouldrondo]

I have just been in South East Asia and there was coverage in the news in Burma, a country that really needs a hand to entrench its hard won democracy and help the people to overcome the political and economic dead hand that has held it back, that British aid will reduce. So TM got her photo opportunity with one of the most inspirational democrats on the planet and then informed her that we are less able to help in spite of Pritti Patel proudly boasting she is going to underspend the aid budget deliberately. A new outward looking post Brexit UK?

[ChariotOfFire]

That's really sad! So it seems likely that vulnerable economies will lose out both in trade and aid. I can't remember this aspect of Brexit being talked about much at all in the run up to the referendum - I do remember people saying that Brexit would enable us to strike fairer trade deals with less developed countries, so voting Leave was the ethical thing to do. It's complex, because it is ethically wrong IMO that Bangladeshi women working in the clothes industry get paid so little so that we can have our UK fast fashion. But neither is it good for Bangladesh if the economy they've got, based on cheap labour, is going to be hit by Brexit.