Bangladesh targets 7.5% GDP growth for FY23, WB projects 6.7%

The government has set a 7.5-percent GDP growth target for fiscal 2022-2023, up by 25 basis points estimated for the outgoing fiscal year.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said the projection for the next fiscal year has taken into consideration the lagged effects of the Covid-19 and the protracted crisis arising from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The World Bank on Tuesday slashed Bangladesh’s GDP growth forecast for the next fiscal year to 6.7 percent from 6.9 percent as growing inflation, supply chain disruptions and the Russia-Ukraine war slowed down the recovery.

The World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects report that was released on Tuesday said Bangladesh’s economy will grow at 6.4 percent in the current fiscal year, down significantly from the government’s provisional estimate of 7.25 percent.

Bangladesh’s economic growth was hampered in FY 2019-20 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the last 13 years, the average GDP growth of the country was 6.6 percent and above 7 percent in FY 2016-2017, FY 2017-2018, and FY2018-2019 and exceeded 8 percent in FY 2018-2019. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the GDP growth in FY 2020-2021 is 6.94 percent which is remarkable;

The size of Bangladesh’s GDP has exceeded Tk 39 lakh crore and per capita income has increased from $543 in FY 2005-2006 to $ 2,824 in FY 2021-22.