The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut further the projection of GDP growth of Bangladesh to 5.8 per cent in the current fiscal year 2013-2014.
The lender in its October issue of World Economic Outlook 2013, released on Tuesday, cut the country’s GDP growth projection for this fiscal year for the second time.
The IMF in its April issue of WEO said that Bangladesh’s GDP in the year would grow by 6 per cent, lowering its earlier projection of 6.1 per cent made in October 2012.
The international lender, however, did not specify why the growth projection was lowered for Bangladesh in the WEO although a visiting IMF delegation in Dhaka on Monday said political unrest ahead of the general elections would push down the GDP growth below 6 per cent.
‘Unrest and political uncertainty in the run-up to the elections are affecting economic activity by disrupting supply and curbing investment appetite, with real GDP growth now expected to moderate below 6 per cent in the fiscal year 2014,’ Rodrigo Cubero, the head of visiting IMF delegation, said at a news briefing in Dhaka.
He said indicators like import, export, private sector credit growth, tax collections and remittance inflow had slowed down in recent times due to volatile
political environment and labour unrest, especially in garment sector.
Cubero said that the economic slowdown might continue for the next six months and the economic activities would pick up from the next fiscal year.
The Asian Development Bank last week said that the country’s GDP growth would decline to 5.8 per cent this FY14 because of slowing business activities amid political tension ahead of the general elections.
The IMF in the October WEO also cut the country’s growth projection for next fiscal year 2014-2015 to 6 per cent from its earlier projection of 6.4 per cent.
-With New Age input
