Bangladesh economy crosses $500bn mark for first time

Bangladesh's economy has regained pace and hit the half-a-trillion-dollar mark for the first time in fiscal year 2025-26, thanks to the better performance of the agriculture and services sectors, according to provisional data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

The economy grew by 4.14 percent in the current fiscal year, up from 3.49 percent in the previous year, the BBS said while releasing the estimate for the current fiscal year ending on June 30.

With the expansion, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a measure of the final value of goods and services produced over a certain period, stood at $501 billion this year, up from $456 billion a year ago.

During 2025-26, the agricultural sector expanded 2.78 percent from 2.42 percent a year ago. The services sector grew 4.59 percent in fiscal year 2025-26 from 4.35 percent a year earlier.

Manufacturing production slowed to 2.86 percent in the current year from 3.71 percent in the previous year as exports fell and domestic demand slowed amid persistent inflation.

Though the provisional data show GDP growth of more than 4 percent in the outgoing fiscal year, the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral agencies had earlier forecast growth of below 4 percent for this year.