Prices still rising as wage growth lags behind cost of living

Bangladesh has been experiencing a long episode of near-double-digit inflation since FY2023.

Bangladesh Bank has projected that the country's economic growth in the next fiscal year will be 6.1 percent, while the government has set a target of 6.5 percent.

Despite low GDP growth over the past three consecutive years, the government is targeting 6.5 percent growth for the next fiscal year in the proposed budget, based on the democratisation of the economy and encouraging private sector investment to boost growth, two economists said today

Designates ICT as special priority sector

The multilateral lender said the economy will grow by 4.6 percent in the current year

It was 2.14 percent in the same period last year

Among account owners, women’s adoption of digital payments lags behind men’s across the region by 15 percentage points.

GDP growth is expected to bounce back to 6% in FY26

The growth is 1.6 percentage points lower than the provisional estimate

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has projected Bangladesh’s GDP growth rate to slow to 4.3 percent in fiscal year (FY) 2025, reflecting a subdued outlook amid political uncertainty, supply disruptions and tight monetary policy.

The GDP growth target may be brought down to 5.25 percent in the revised budget for the current fiscal year due to the damage caused by multiple floods and the interim government’s contractionary monetary policy to contain high inflation.

Bangladesh recorded its lowest economic growth in the past five quarters in the last quarter of fiscal 2023-24 due to contractionary monetary and fiscal policies to tackle the dwindling forex reserves and high inflation.

While a privileged minority, sitting in their high castles, continue to enjoy a larger and larger share of the fruits of “development,” it is becoming obvious that the vast majority are increasingly struggling.

Bangladesh’s economy has grown at a faster pace, albeit marginally, in the current fiscal year than the previous one although the production of industrial goods and agricultural commodities recorded reduced growth.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) has defended revising down its forecast for Bangladesh’s GDP growth in fiscal year 2023-24, saying it was “pretty reasonable” amidst various ongoing challenges, including elevated inflation.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised down growth forecast for Bangladesh’s economy to 6 percent for the fiscal year 2023-24, lower from its previous projection of 6.5 percent.

The latest forecast by the Manila-based multilateral lender is close to the estimate by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) at 6.03 percent for the FY23.

The Bangladesh Bank has projected that loan repayments against mid- and long-term foreign credits secured by the private sector might fall by 42.6 per cent in 2023, but the development might not bring about major relief for an economy reeling under the forex crisis.

In 2019, when AHM Mustafa Kamal took charge as the finance minister, the Bangladesh economy was taxing for take-off for its long-haul flight to the developed country club.