Bangladesh's GDP Growth Will Be 6.4% This Fiscal Year: WB

The World Bank has hinted that Bangladesh's economy is heading for high growth again after being hit by the Coronavirus. Bangladesh's growth is projected to increase by 1.3 percentage points to 6.4 percent in the current financial year from their previous estimate.

The World Bank's report on the latest economic developments in South Asia, titled 'Shifting Gears: Digitization and Service Lead Development Project', was released on Thursday (October 8).

In a World Bank update last June, the estimate was that growth could be 5.1 percent in the current fiscal year.

According to the report, Bangladesh's GDP growth could increase further to 6.9 percent in the next 2022-23 fiscal year. In the national budget for the current financial year, the government has set a growth target of 7.2 percent for GDP.

The World Bank has said that the recovery in the export sector and the increase in consumption will lead to higher growth than previously thought. The pace of economic recovery will accelerate if the country's economic woes caused by Coronavirus can be controlled. However, the second push of the Coronavirus may reduce the demand for Bangladeshi products in the world market. Again, the demand for Bangladeshi workers abroad may also decrease.

As for South Asia as a whole, the World Bank says regulatory initiatives have helped countries have less of an impact on the economy in the face of rising global demand and the recent surge in Covid-19.

However, they added, the recovery is still fragile and uneven. Most countries in South Asia are still far behind the Corona epidemic.

According to a World Bank report, the Maldives may have the fastest growth among South Asian countries in the current fiscal year. The growth forecast for the country is 11 percent. Only then can India grow at 7.5 per cent. In this case, Bangladesh will be in third place. Collectively, the World Bank estimates that the region could grow at an average of 7.1 percent of GDP.

According to a new World Bank estimate, growth in Bhutan and the Maldives has slowed down compared to last June, while India has the same estimate. The growth forecast for FY 2022 is 7.5 percent for India, 3.4 percent for Pakistan, 3.9 percent for Nepal, 3.2 percent for Bhutan, 2.1 percent for Sri Lanka and 11 percent for the Maldives.

The World Bank estimation in regards to Bangladesh's growth in the current financial year is lower than that of the government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In June's budget estimate, the government estimated growth to be 7.2 percent, and in September, the ADB said it would be 6.8 percent.

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Bangladesh's GDP growth in the last fiscal year was 5.47 percent. However, according to the World Bank, it is 5 percent.