Quarterly Economic Update - Bangladesh

Abstract

Despite lingering political disruption and mounting external and fiscal pressures, Bangladesh maintained during FY2001 (ending 30 June) strong economic performance with record low inflation. The GDP growth rate in FY2001 was estimated at about 6 percent as compared with 5.9 percent in the preceding year – a tribute to successive bumper crops and a rebounding industrial sector. Favorable weather, along with adequate availability of agricultural inputs, contributed to increasing food grain production by 7.6 percent to a record level of around 26.8 million tons as against last year’s 24.9 million tons. The agriculture sector’s overall growth rate was estimated at 5 percent. The industrial sector’s growth was estimated at 8.7 percent in FY2001, compared with 6.2 percent in FY2000. Increased growth was mainly due to a surge in manufacturing output including export-oriented industries. The growth in the services sector was sustained at 5.2 percent owing to impressive progress in key services such as catering, telecommunications, financial and public administration services.