GDP

Economy grows by 3.78% in Oct-Dec, slowest in three quarters

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics says in quarterly GDP estimate

Bancassurance: a win-win solution for Bangladesh

With a gross domestic product growth rate of nearly 5.8 percent in 2023, Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Driving Bangladesh’s prospects is our extremely active domestic consumer market, which accounts for nearly 70 percent of GDP and is rapidly expanding on the back of a growing middle and affluent class. Fuelling this growth is a digital economy that is also expanding rapidly.

Bangladesh’s economic growth to slow to 5.6% in FY24: World Bank

The World Bank has forecasted a slow economic growth for Bangladesh because of factors like inflation

The growing importance of Bangladesh in the Indo-Pacific

In its foreign policy and international relations, the country has always advanced a free and open Indo-Pacific.

Govt’s borrowing goes up amid falling revenue

The government’s dependence on borrowing to finance national budgets has increased over the past decade as revenue collection has failed to keep pace with the ballooning public expenditure.

High time to reduce demand, tackle inflation head-on

The government should target reducing demand through ensuring market-based interest and exchange rates as well as cutting allocation for infrastructure projects to rein in inflation and protect the foreign currency reserves, said economists yesterday.

Bangladesh’s revenue-GDP ratio way lower than peers

Bangladesh’s revenue-GDP ratio is a third of the median seen in the countries that have the same credit rating, highlighting the country’s weak capacity to finance development and support growth, according to American credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings.   

Public expenditure stays at lower level

Bangladesh’s public expenditure is not growing in keeping pace with the steadily expanding economy as it struggles to raise adequate revenues, thus failing to ensure full implementation of development programmes and provide expected services to its citizens.  

Private investment falls for second time in 3 years

The private investment-to-GDP ratio in Bangladesh declined in the current fiscal year owing to a lower confidence among investors amid the persisting dollar crisis and global uncertainty, higher inflation and a fall in demand for goods in international markets.

February 13, 2023
February 13, 2023

Young entrepreneurs in agriculture: The new driving force

Agriculture accounts for approximately 13.6 per cent of Bangladesh’s GDP and employs more than 40.6 per cent of the labour force. As technology advances, so do agricultural applications, ushering in a new era of industrial upheaval.

January 30, 2023
January 30, 2023

What’s in store for our agricultural production potentials?

Both the government and private sector should come forward and encourage climate-smart agriculture as well as the production of non-local crops, which have immense possibilities. It would not only increase the productivity of our agriculture sector, but also maintain self-sufficiency and ensure food security in Bangladesh. 

January 18, 2023
January 18, 2023

IMF Loan Programme: Getting Bangladesh ready for LDC graduation

The prospective loan programme of the International Monetary Fund will prime Bangladesh for graduation from the least-developed country bracket and reach middle-income country status by 2031, said the lender’s top official.

January 5, 2023
January 5, 2023

‘Unpredictability has become the new normal’

Unpredictability has become the new normal in a world afflicted by the forces of deglobalisation amidst rising geopolitical tensions.

January 5, 2023
January 5, 2023

Can China Save Its Economic Miracle?

To improve medium-term growth, China must heed the lessons of its own history and focus on removing barriers to market entry and entrepreneurship. An economy’s growth rate comes from a combination of an increase in the average size of existing firms (intensive-margin growth) and an increase in the number of firms (extensive-margin growth). A study of the Chinese manufacturing sector that I co-authored with Xiaobo Zhang suggests that during the last few decades, extensive-margin growth accounted for about 70 percent of overall GDP expansion.

December 26, 2022
December 26, 2022

Remittance outflow crosses $100m -- thru legal channel

Outward remittances from Bangladesh through legal channels crossed the $100-million mark for the first time in 2021 as more foreigners are working in the fast-growing economy, data from a global organisation showed.

December 5, 2022
December 5, 2022

Illnesses caused by air polution: The Invisible Killer

Air pollution is killing around 80,000 people every year in Bangladesh by causing respiratory problems as well as depression, and wiping out around 4 percent of the country’s GDP, said a World Bank report yesterday.

November 3, 2022
November 3, 2022

What the IMF said, our economists have said before

What Bangladeshi economists have been saying for a long time is pretty much what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has told our central bank and the government.

May 17, 2022
May 17, 2022

Bangladesh Economy: What got you here won’t get you there

Over the years, Bangladesh has achieved considerable economic progress despite many odds. The economy, however, has now reached a point where continued progress will require course corrections, as alluded by the title of this write up, which is also the subtitle of a bestselling business book.

May 9, 2022
May 9, 2022

Should Bangladesh worry about debt servicing?

Debt servicing has become a rising concern for developing countries in recent times.

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