Almost a year ago, in this column, I wrote about the obsession of our policymakers’ with the growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (“Our incomprehensible obsession with GDP”, May 19, 2019). I discussed in brief how GDP is estimated, and its inherent weaknesses which is why this indicator should...
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Almost a year ago, in this column, I wrote about the obsession of our policymakers with the growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ("Our incomprehensible obsession with GDP", May 19, 2019). I discussed in brief how GDP is estimated, and its inherent weaknesses which is why this indicator should not be taken so seriously.
Unfortunately, the fascination about GDP growth among our policymakers has led to yet another questionable number for the fiscal year 2019-20 (FY2020). Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has recently published the provisional data of the economy for FY2020. This shows the progress of various sectors and the GDP for the past fiscal year. The provisional GDP growth for FY2020 is estimated to be 5.24 percent. During a time when the whole world is facing the ravage of the ongoing Covid-19 and economies around the world have collapsed irrespective of their size and phases of development, Bangladesh's growth number is not only astonishing but also misleading.
This is what I am talking about. This obsession of releasing per capita number almost every month. Not only that but its data fudging if you keep doing it at that intervals