The shock to employment and living standards from the covid-19 pandemic will fuel
opposition to the government under the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, now in
its third successive term. Even so, the ruling Awami League’s grip on political and
military power and its entrenched patronage networks will guarantee its survival. The
economy will rally, but it will take another year to recover the 5%-plus trend GDP
growth of the past decade.

TO WATCH: Locked up. Protests will spike if Khaleda Zia, an opposition leader jailed for
corruption but freed on health grounds, is sent back to jail.

China

GDP growth: 7.3%