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A massive fall in industrial production and the US dollar crisis have slowed Bangladesh’s economy as its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has expanded at 3.78 per cent rate in the second quarter (Q2) of the current fiscal year (FY) 2023-24, analysts said on Monday.
The service sector was also affected in Q2 (Oct-Dec) while the agriculture sector gave a better output to the national economy in the same period this fiscal, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data showed.
Bangladesh’s GDP growth in Q2 of the last two consecutive FY2022 and FY2023 was better than the impoverished rate in Q2 this FY2024.
Economists said that the massive dollar crisis has mainly hit Bangladesh’s GDP in Q2, when both imports and exports slowed down and the inflationary pressure affected consumption.
According to the BBS, the GDP growth at constant price was 9.30 per cent in the 2nd quarter of the previous FY2022 and 7.08 per cent in Q2 of FY2023. It has slowed down to only 3.78 per cent in Q2 of the current FY2024.
In Q1 this fiscal, the GDP growth rate was recorded at 6.01 per cent, the BBS data showed.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh government has revised down the economic growth projection for FY2024 to 6.5 per cent from the initial 7.5 per cent, considering the ongoing challenges in the economy.
Besides, the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have also forecasted a lower GDP growth projection for Bangladesh for the current fiscal year amid the economic slowdown.
The WB, in its latest Bangladesh Development Update, said the country's GDP will grow at 5.6 per cent.
The ADB has projected Bangladesh’s economic growth for the current FY2024 at 6.1 per cent.