Special Correspondent :
Bangladesh’s GDP (gross domestic product) growth will be 6.9 percent by the end of the current fiscal year (2021-22), as the economy of Bangladesh is on the right track to achieve the sustainable growth.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has forecast it while releasing a latest report of ‘Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2018’ at its Dhaka office on Wednesday.
ADB Country Director Edimon Ginting presented the information virtually to media and other stakeholders. The ADB country director has said that Bangladesh’s GDP is expected to ahive 6.9 percent in the current fiscal year (FY2022) and subsequently 7.1 percent in FY2023.
“Bangladesh economy is now going stronger and is now moving towards a higher growth trajectory,” the ADB Country Director said.
According to Ginting , private investment in Bangladesh will get stronger, reflecting a solid growth in private sector credit and imports of industrial raw materials and capital goods, which would help to achieve the Bangladesh’s GDP growth.
Growth in Bangladesh will be close to south Asian average growth of 7.0 percent in 2022 and 7.4 percent in 2023, he said adding that “Among larger south Asian economies, Bangladesh will closely follow India in terms of strong growth next year.”
ADB senior country specialist Soon Chan Hong made a power-point presentation on the ADO 2022.
About the impact of ongoing Russia-Ukraine war in Bangladesh, Soon Chan Hong said although the direct impact of war is “limited”, but the indirect impact would be higher.
He said if the war prolongs, the European market would be impacted side by side there will be increase in the oil, gas and commodity prices.
The Manila based lending agency said, “Inflation in Bangladesh will be higher than the target set by the government for the next two fiscal years due to the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia considering the instability in the market. Inflation will rise to 6 percent in 2022 from 5.6 percent in 2021 as food, consumer goods, gas and oil prices rise in the international market.” According to ADB, growth forecast reflects rebound in external trade and recovery in domestic economic activities fueled by implementation of stimulus packages and increased remittance. According to ADB country director Ginting, “The ongoing socio-economic recovery needs to be accelerated by enhancing domestic resource mobilization, incentivizing the private sector to create products and services, promoting modern green technologies, and fostering knowledge and innovation.”
It said with large available funding, public investment will increase to support the implementation of priority large infrastructure projects, but growth in private consumption, however, may be affected by a decline in remittances. Bangladesh is ahead among Asian countries in terms of economic recovery by overcoming the impacts of coronavirus pandemic, the lending agency said addin g that this is admirable. In this strong recovery, government incentive packages, supportive fiscal policies, incentives on expatriate income and proper monetary policy have acted as regulators, it added.
