Business Desk :
Bangladesh’s economic growth has exceeded the rate, as was projected by the Asian Development Bank (ABD). The Manila-based multilateral lender said this in its July Asian Development Outlook (ADO) supplement.
“In Bangladesh, latest official estimates for FY2022 (ended 30 June 2022) show GDP growth at 7.2 per cent, surpassing ADO 2022’s 6.9 per cent projection,” it said, adding the growth was driven by industry (10.4 per cent) and services (6.3 per cent). Agriculture output, however, fell to 2.2 per cent while exports and imports were stronger than expected, reflecting a faster recovery in economic activity and private investment, it mentioned. This recovery is also being supported by rising credit to private sector, the ADB added.
Inflation projections for Bangladesh remain unchanged in FY2022, but revised up slightly for FY2023 on rising global food and energy prices, including for diesel, kerosene, and natural gas, according to the ADO. However, the ADO Supplement lowered the growth forecast for also South Asia from 7.0 per cent to 6.5 per cent for 2022 and from 7.4 per cent to 7.1 per cent for 2023 mainly due to the economic crisis in Sri Lanka and high inflation and associated monetary tightening in India. It also revised the growth forecasts for developing Asia from 5.2 per cent to 4.6 per cent for 2022 and from 5.3 per cent to 5.2 per cent for 2023, reflecting worsened economic prospects because of Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine, more aggressive monetary tightening in advanced economies, and COVID-19 lockdowns in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
