GDP growth slows to 4-year low of 4.22pc in FY24

Bangladesh's economy grew at its slowest pace in four years, with gross domestic product (GDP) expanding just 4.22 per cent in the last fiscal year (July 2023-June 2024).

With the final GDP figures, released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) on Monday in Dhaka, it is 1.6 percentage points lower than the provisional estimate, which reached 5.82 per cent.

The slowdown, driven by the massive correction in export figures, also marks a sharp decline in the total GDP size, which was revised down to $450 billion for the 2023-24 fiscal year from the provisional estimate of $459 billion.

In Bangladesh, the BBS undertakes quarterly GDP estimates, measured by the total value of goods and services produced, as per the decision of the government and on the advice of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), reports Xinhua.

Bangladesh had earlier recorded GDP growth of 3.45 per cent in 2019-20 fiscal year when the COVID-19 pandemic took its toll on the country's economy.

Owing to the GDP decline, Bangladesh's per capita gross national income has also dropped to $2,738 in the last fiscal year, down from the earlier projection of $2,784.

Against the backdrop of severe damages caused by multiple floods last year and the new interim government's contractionary monetary policy to rein in soaring inflation, officials here said Bangladesh's GDP growth target for the current fiscal year may be brought down to around 5 per cent in the revised budget in the near future.