The government has put an emphasis on creative economic activities to keep the country’s youth away from drugs, terrorism, and extremism. As part of this, an allocation of Tk 3 billion will be set aside in the upcoming national budget for the fiscal year 2026–27.

Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury will also outline the potential and framework of the creative economy in his budget speech.

In general, the creative economy refers to film, dance, music, theatre, publishing, advertising, architecture, fine arts, handicrafts, design, software, video games, and so on.

According to a report titled Creative Economy Outlook 2024 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the creative economy encompasses creating, producing, and distributing goods and services that use creativity and intellectual capital as primary inputs. It includes diverse activities such as advertising, architecture, arts, design, music and movie production, publishing, and video games.

The government is planning various forms of support to advance the creative economy. Officials of the finance ministry and stakeholders concerned said that, along with the development of local culture, the government aims to generate high value through creativity and increase export earnings. Integrating promising sectors of the creative economy into the mainstream economy and branding the country are also among the objectives.

The creative economy is contributing significantly to employment generation and GDP in both developed and developing countries. However, Bangladesh is lagging behind in this regard.