MCCI: Economic indicators keep steady pace

The country’s leading chamber said this in its review on Economic Situation in Bangladesh (October-December 2016 period), terming the country’s overall economic situation positive. “The country experienced stable economic growth. Inflation was under control, the exchange rate remained stable and foreign exchange reserves rose and remained at a comfortable level.” It said the agriculture sector performed well, but continuous government support with inputs and finance will be needed to sustain the growth. Infrastructure deficits and gas and power supply problems were undermining the performance of manufacturing as well as agriculture sector, it said, adding that the government will need to adopt suitable measures to remove these bottlenecks in order to support the growth of these two all-important sectors. About agriculture, it said this sector is expected to perform well in the present fiscal year because of the government’s strong commitment to support the growth of agriculture with timely availability of inputs and finance. The broad industrial sector grew by 11.09% in FY16 compared to 9.67% in FY15. The share of the industry sector in GDP increased by 1.12 percentage points to 31.54 in FY16 from 30.42% in FY15. Manufacturing activities showed signs of improvement, thanks to the peaceful political situation in the country. The manufacturing sub-sector grew by 11.69% in FY16, 1.38 percentage points higher than the previous fiscal year’s 10.31%. The large and medium scale industries sub-sector performed much better, growing by 12.26% in FY16, compared to 10.70% in FY15, and the latter by 9.06% compared to 8.54% in FY15, it added. MCCI said the service sectors were doing well, but these will also need the government support in specific areas. Most importantly, the political harmony in the country should be maintained in order to achieve the government growth and inflation targets. To achieve the planned target of becoming a middle-income country (MIC) by 2021, the government will need to increase the rate of economic growth, accelerate export and attract more investments as well as improve the overall infrastructure, according to the chamber. “To attain faster economic growth, the government will have to improve the country’s road and rail infrastructure, develop port facilities, increase power and gas production and remove other infrastructure bottlenecks,” observed the trade body.