The World Bank (WB) has seen growth of the Bangladesh economy by 6.2% in the end of the current 2014-15 financial year (FY15). In its latest South Asia Economic Focus released on Monday, it said that this would depend on continued macroeconomic stability and a boost for domestic consumption from remittances and domestic demand from public infrastructure investments, BSS reports.
The Report expressed that the exports continued to grow at two-digit rates, and as a result the country could witness a financial account surplus in FY15, in spite of a decline in inflow of the foreign direct investment (FDI).
According to the report the core inflation in Bangladesh actually declined as a result of better supply conditions and slower aggregate demand when the headline inflation remained stable. "There was a solid performance of Bangladesh's industry, not withstanding a slowdown from 9.6 percent in FY2013 to 8.4 percent in FY2014," the Report said.
WB also brought attention to some important areas including fiscal policy, revenue shortfall and political stability to sustain the growth.
"In Bangladesh the fiscal policy remains plagued by implementation weaknesses," the Report said.
The Report advised that the government should prioritise the most transformative projects for completion within specified timelines. The projects include the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways, double-tracking of the Dhaka-Chittagong railway, Padma Bridge, Dhaka metro rail project and two Bibiyani gas field-based power plants.
The other major recommendations that the WB put forward in the report to accelerate economic growth includes enacting the Public Private Partnership (PPP) law, awarding contracts to develop Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and completion of transformation of the garment industry.
