Asian Development Bank on Wednesday said pre-election political unrest affected private consumption and investment to send Bangladesh’s economy down in the current fiscal year.
‘Lower GDP growth is expected in FY2014 as private consumption and investment were affected by pre-election political unrest,’ said the ADB in its quarterly updates that was released on the day.
The GDP growth in 2013-14 will mostly rely on exports as domestic demand will remain weak due to decline in remittances, it said.
The Manila-based multilateral donor, however, did not specify the GDP growth rate.
An ADB official said they never specify the growth rate in the quarterly review.
He said the bank always made forecast on the country’s GDP in September, third month of the fiscal year, in its growth outlook.
ADB had projected that Bangladesh economy would grow 5.8 per cent in the current fiscal year.
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund too projected that the country’s GDP growth would be below 6 per cent.
The economic policy makers of the government, however, noted that the growth rate will be between 6.3 and 6.5 per cent from initial target of 7.2 per cent as three-month long violence before January 5 polls did not damage the country massively.
In its latest review, ADB had said agriculture growth was expected to rise in FY14 due to the lower base in the past 2 years and the industry sector growth would moderate because of economic disruptions.
Service sector growth would slow due to weaker industry and pre-election unrest.
Food inflation is rising but non-food inflation remains low. Revenue slowed by disrupted economic activities and sluggish imports. Private credit flow decreased due to the sluggish business environment, the ADP said.
Despite a decline in remittance growth, the lower trade deficit increased the current account surplus, it added.
-With New Age input
