26 Oct 2016, 00:23:46
Economy grows 7.11pc, latest official stats show
Per-capita income reaches $1,465 in FY16
FE Report
The latest official statistics put the economic growth rate of Bangladesh at 7.11 per cent in the last fiscal.
The government count revealed Tuesday that the economy broke out of a 6.0 per cent 'growth trap' rolling over the past decade.
Besides, the country's per-capita income (Gross National Income-GNI) also
increased to US$1,465 in the financial year (FY) 2015-16 from $1,316 in the previous fiscal, FY2015, the government statistics showed.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) released the final statistics on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and its related data.
Earlier, the BBS in the last quarter of the past FY2016 had released a preliminary GDP growth estimation at 7.05 per cent. In the last national budget for FY16, the government had set a target of GDP growth at 7.0 per cent.
Former finance and planning adviser of caretaker government and development analyst Dr Mirza Azizul Islam took the latest calculations with a grain of salt.
"I have analysed the growth-related indirect indicators which do not match with the 7.11 per cent growth rate of GDP. I think the real picture of the country's GDP is not reflected at the final calculation," he said.
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal unveiled the statistics at the Planning Commission (PC) in the city after Tuesday's meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).
According to BBS's final calculations, the country's GDP growth was led by the industrial sector as it expanded at 11.09 per cent rate in the last fiscal.
In the previous FY2015, the growth of the industrial sector was recorded at 9.67 per cent.
Besides, the growth in the agriculture section was recorded at 2.79 per cent, a 0.54 percentage point lower than the previous FY.
The growth in the service sector was recorded at 6.25 per cent, a 0.45 percentage point lower than 5.80 per cent in the FY2015, the planning minister told the media.
Bangladesh's economy had fallen into a '6.0 per cent growth trap' since FY2004 as it could not cross the six-per cent trajectory in last one decade.
In FY2004, the country's GDP expanded at 6.2 per cent from 5.26 per cent in the previous FY2003. Thereafter, it had maintained over 6.0 per cent growth, but below 7.0 per cent, almost every year over the last one decade.
In the previous FY2015, the country's GDP grew at a rate of 6.55 per cent, while 6.06 per cent in FY2014, and 6.01 per cent in FY2013, BBS data showed.
At the press briefing, Planning Minister Mr Kamal said Tuesday
Bangladesh's total GDP size increased to Tk 173.3 trillion in the last FY2016 from Tk 151.58 trillion in FY2015.
"Bangladesh as per the purchasing power parity (PPP) has now stood at 33rd position among the world economies," he told the media.
"Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh economy is expanding at an impressive pace. I hope poverty will be eliminated within a shorter period of time from the country," he said. The government in the current FY2017 has set a target of 7.5 per cent GDP growth.
Bangladesh's total GDP size increased to Tk 173.3 trillion in the last FY2016
@Tk.78=$1, the Bangladesh GDP at present stands at 222.18 billion US dollar. It is not that bad for a country whose GDP stood at only a pittance of 10 billion US dollar at the time of separation from Pakistan when the war ended in 1971 December.
