Bangladesh will achieve 7.65% GDP growth in the current fiscal (2017-2018), which is higher than the budgetary target of 7.40%, according to provisional estimates.
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal made the disclosure at the meeting of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting at the NEC conference room in Dhaka.
"The GDP growth will be 7.65% this fiscal year. It is our initial estimate," the planning minister said while briefing reporters after the meeting.
In the last fiscal year (2016-2017), the GDP growth rate was 7.28%, he said.
The minister also informed the Ecnec meeting that Bangladesh's per capita income had increased to $1,752 from $1,610.
He said the provisional estimate of GDP growth was made on the basis of three main sectors - agriculture, industry and services.
The services sector is making the highest contribution to the GDP growth, at 52.18%, according to the factsheet provided during the briefing.
The contribution of the industrial sector is 33.71%, while that of agriculture is 14.10 percent.
In the last fiscal year, the contribution of the services sector to GDP was 53.85% while that of industrial sector was 32.42% and that of the agricultural sector was 14.74%.
The growth rate in the agricultural sector is 3.06%, while that in the industrial sector is 11.99% and in the services sector it is 6.33% in FY2017-2018.
The investment ratio to GDP has increased to 31.47% this fiscal year, from 30.51% in FY2016-2017.
Meanwhile, private investment contributes to 23.25% of GDP, while 8.22% comes from public investment, as compared 23.10% and 7.41%, respectively, in the last fiscal year.
The planning minister said the GDP has increased to $275 billion (Tk 2,238,498 crore) in the current fiscal year, from $249 billion (Tk1,975,815.4 crore) in 2016-2017 fiscal year.
In terms of GDP, Bangladesh is now the 43rd largest economy in the world, as opposed to being the 58th largest economy in 2010, he added.
Mustafa Kamal said: "If we can overtake 23 countries in the next 23 years, we'll have the 20th largest GDP in the world by 2041. The 20th largest GDP means we're a developed nation."
Noting that the overall situation of the country's macro-economy is quite good, he said Bangladesh is doing well in remittance inflow, exports and keeping inflation under control.
"The condition of all the GDP-supportive components is good. We've achieved massive growth in the manufacturing sector," he said, adding that the only worries were climate related issues.
The planning minister also said that a final estimate would be released after the fiscal year.
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
