Bangladesh sees small glimmers of economic hope a year after longtime autocrat ousted in people’s revolt

Muhammad Yunus steps into the political void. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

By the time a student-led protest movement erupted into a full-scale revolution in Bangladesh in July 2024, the country’s economy was already in free fall.

Years of rampant corruption, mismanagement and dwindling opportunities for young people – not to mention the brutal repression of its then-autocratic government – had left the country’s financial institutions on their knees.