The country’s economic performance in fiscal year 2014 will certainly hinge on the state of both economic and political governance, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said on Monday.
It said confrontational and uncertain political environment had direct implications on economic performance in FY13.
“Ongoing political impasse and the resultant adverse implications will leave an unfavorable footprint for economic performance also over the upcoming fiscal year,” said CPD executive director Prof Mustafizur Rahman at a press briefing on “Current Challenges of Bangladesh Economy and Macroeconomic Performance in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013” at its office.
In the run up to the forthcoming national elections, the government may like to revisit its pledges in the manifesto and in the last budget, he said.
He said in the view of past record, the continuing fragility of the institutions and the looming political uncertainties, many of the objectives and the indicators will likely remain unattained.
Bangladesh economy experienced fluctuating fortunes in the fiscal year 2013 with economy moving towards a lower level equilibrium in the course of the ongoing fiscal year, the CPD report said. It said the macroeconomic stability was partiality restored and rising inflationary trends somewhat tamed while the other economic growth slowed down for a second consecutive year to remain below the target set out in sixth five-year plan.
For the second consecutive year, GDP growth rate in FY13 has failed to attain the target. This certainly a setback for the present government’s plan to move the economy towards a higher growth trajectory which is a necessary factor for attaining the middle income status by 2021, the report said.
According to the provisional estimates from Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), GDP growth for current fiscal year is expected to be 6%, which is 1.2 percentage points lower than the target.
In FY 2013, per capita Gross National Income (GNI) of Bangladesh has been estimated to be about $923, which is $83 more than that of the preceding year.
On the other hand, per capita GDP also increased to $838 in fiscal year 2013 from $816 in fiscal year 2012, the report said adding faster acceleration of GNI per capita compared to GDP per capita was attributed to robust growth of remittances.
