Two broad sectors' bad going squeezes GDP growth to 3.91pc

Bangladesh's economic growth slowed to 3.91 per cent in the last quarter of the past fiscal as two broad sectors' bad going compared to the previous three quarters downgraded the rate, official data showed Monday.

In the third quarter (January-March) of the fiscal year (FY) 2023-24, the country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth was calculated at 5.42 per cent.

The growth rate had passed a bumpy road over the four quarters during last fiscal which also reflected in the annual average economic growth rate of the FY2024, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data showed.

According to BBS's provisional data, Bangladesh's economy had grown at a 5.82-percent rate in the FY2024.

In the first quarter (July-September) of the last fiscal, the GDP grew 6.01 per cent, in the 2nd quarter (Oct-Dec) 4.87 per cent, in the 3rd quarter (Jan-Mar) 5.42 per cent and in the 4th quarter (Apr-Jun) slipped to 3.91 per cent.

Meanwhile, the GDP growth in Q4 of the last FY on a point-to-point basis also showed worse than in the same period of previous FY2023.

According to BBS, the Q4 GDP in the previous FY2023 was recorded at 6.88 per cent.

The national statistical agency shows that main growth drivers-industry and services sectors-performed worse in the Q4 (Apr-June) last FY2024 as "their expansion rate was much lower than that in the previous quarter (Jan-Mar)".

Industry sector's GDP growth plummeted to 3.98 per cent in the Q4 last fiscal from that of 6.25 per cent in Q3.

The services sector expanded at a 3.67-percent rate in Q4 last fiscal from that of 3.81 per cent in Q3 of the same fiscal.

However, agriculture did well in the last quarter of the FY2024 with a 5.27-percent growth.

In the previous Q3, the growth rate was recorded at 5.16 per cent.

At current price, the size of the Q4 FY2024 GDP amounted to Tk 13.78 trillion. In the Q1, Q2 and Q3 of the last fiscal, the size of the GDP was Tk 11.70 trillion, Tk 13.06 trillion and Tk 13.23 trillion respectively.

The country's economy is navigating a rough weather as the major macroeconomic indicators, including export, foreign-exchange reserves, import, private-sector credits, capital-machinery and raw-material imports, employment and investment, are performing poorly.

For the first time, Bangladesh's economic growth had been well over the last few years as the growth rate was recorded in 7.0-percent club till FY2022.

For the impact of the Covid-19, the GDP growth in FY2020 was down at 3.45 per cent. Despite a recovery in the consecutive two fiscals in FY2021 and FY2022, the economic growth fell behind 6.0-percent club in FY2022, in FY2023 and in FY2024 (provisional).

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