Cuts global outlook
Bangladesh’s economy will expand steadily in the next three years, with the growth of the gross domestic product rising to 7.0 per cent in 2017, according to the latest report of the World Bank. The report, Global Economic Prospects 2015, released in Washington DC on Tuesday (early Wednesday in Bangladesh), projects that GDP growth in Bangladesh will be 6.2 per cent this year, and it will maintain steady a pace to escalate at 6.5 per cent in 2016 and 7.0 per cent in 2017, reports BSS.
The WB projects continual growth for the country when the global economy would also improve, but amidst the downside risks from divergent trends.
The World Bank said the economic growth would be supported this year and afterwards by continued robust remittances and recovery in private consumption demand, but political stability would be vital to its sustainability.
On the major economic fronts, the WB’s outlook was mixed as it noted slow export growth as demand in key export markets softened. In addition, textile manufacturing production was affected by disruptions due to social unrest and by stricter enforcement of regulations on working conditions following the collapse of Rana Plaza.
In the report, the WB said that exports would improve after transition to better enforcement of factory safety standards and working conditions though wage pressures in the absence of productivity gains could erode its competitiveness.
‘With government spending offsetting softness in private demand, the economy is estimated to have grown by 6.1 per cent in financial year 2013-14, ostensibly because increased agriculture and service sector growth outweighed the decrease in industrial growth,’ the WB report said.
Besides Bangladesh, developing countries would see an uptick in growth this year, boosted in part by soft oil prices, a stronger US economy, continued low global interest rates, and receding domestic headwinds in several large emerging markets, says the Bank’s report .
Reuters adds: The World Bank lowered its global growth forecast for 2015 and next year due to disappointing economic prospects in the eurozone, Japan and some major emerging economies.
-With New Age input
