A United Nations body on Thursday said growth rate of Bangladesh’s gross domestic product would be around 6 per cent in the outgoing fiscal year.
The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific made the projection while releasing its Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific-2013 at the city’s IDB auditorium.
ESCAP which released the report simultaneously in 37 others cities worldwide observed that the country would get lower than expected growth in 2012-13 because of the ‘political instability in the election year’.
The government had targeted a GDP growth rate of 7.2 per cent in the current fiscal year which will end in June.
Former caretaker government adviser Mirza Azizul Islam while commenting on the ESCAP report said the country’s GDP growth rate would be impeded by about 0.5 per cent.
‘This is because of the current political instability,’ he said.
He pointed out that political instability hampered production and transportation and eventually ate up economic prospects.
He noted that attention should be given to job
creation, reduction of poverty and inequality for maximising the economic gains.
Mustafa K Mujeri, director general of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, releasing the ESCAP report, said the growth would be lower compared to the FY11 and FY12, but it is tough to say the real figure at the moment.
He said the reason should be found out as to why the country could not get higher growth despite having potentials.
The ESCAP in its report commented that although the growth would be lower than the initial target, it would be in line with the growth performance in the recent years.
Bangladesh obtained 6.3 per cent growth in last fiscal year and 6.7 per cent in 2010-11.
ESCAP’S growth projection came a few days after the International Monetary Fund forecast about 6.0 per cent growth in the outgoing fiscal year.
The World Bank and Asian Development Bank, the country’s two major multinational development partners, projected lower than 6 per cent growth in the outgoing fiscal year.
Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith expressed his doubt about reaching the GDP growth target of 7.2 per cent in the current fiscal year. He, however, expected that the growth rate would be more than 6.4 per cent.
The ESCAP report noted that inflow of remittance was growing despite the global financial crisis. The growth of exports and imports, however, slowed down.
-With New Age input
