Bangladesh achieved an impressive 6.94% GDP growth in the 2020-21 fiscal year amid the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a final estimate of the government.
The country's GDP size stood at $416 billion and the per capita income rose to $2,591 (as per GNI) in the last fiscal year, said Planning Minister MA Mannan quoting the estimate.
The estimate was placed at the weekly meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday.
Ecnec Chair and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting, joining it virtually from her official residence Ganahaban.
Other ministers and officials concerned were connected with the meeting from the NEC conference room.
"The GDP growth rate finally stood at 6.94% in the last fiscal year, which is much higher than the provisional estimate of 5.43%," said Mannan while briefing reporters after the meeting.
The GDP size was finally estimated at $416 billion, also higher than the provisional estimate of $411 billion, he said.
"The per capita income also increased to $2,591 (as per GNI) in the final estimate, from $2,554 in the provisional estimate," said the Planning Minister.
In the 2019-20 fiscal year, the GDP growth rate was 3.45%, while GDP size was $374 billion, the per capita income was $2,326.
Commenting on the growth, State Minister of Planning Dr Shamsul Alam said: "The growth in national GDP is proof that our economy has flourished since we have made progress in sectors like export and remittance."
The growth rate was 3.17% in the agriculture sector, 10.29% in the industrial sector and 5.73% in the service sector during the 2020-21 fiscal year, which were 3.42%, 3.6% and 3.93% respectively in the 2019-20 fiscal year.
The investment-GDP ratio was 31.02% in the last fiscal year, which was slightly less than 31.31% attained in the 2019-20 fiscal year.
As per World Bank’s previous estimate, the GDP growth was 5% for FY21.
For the current fiscal year, the World Bank expects a growth rate of 6.4% (FY22) and 6.9% in the fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23) due to increasing demand in the local economy and solid export figures of apparel items.
But according to the data at the ECNEC meeting, the growth rate for FY21 has surpassed that.