Government statisticians calculate Bangladesh GDP growth at almost 7.0pc in 2020-21, belying lenders' estimate

Bangladesh's economic growth in the last fiscal marks a quantum leap by 1.51 percentage points to an impressive 6.94 per cent in final official calculations, despite pandemic devastations.

In the provisional estimation made by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in November showed the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at constant price had grown 5.43 per cent.

The public statistical body Tuesday finally unveiled the country's actual economic growth to 6.94 per cent for the fiscal year (FY) 2020-21, more than double the figure in the previous FY2020.

After the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) meeting on the day, Planning Minister MA Mannan disclosed the final GDP and relevant data before the media.

Meanwhile, the massive fallout from the Covid-19 smashed the country's impressive growth trajectory in the previous FY2020 as the GDP growth reached rock bottom at 3.45 per cent.

Before the coronavirus attack in late FY2019, Bangladesh had attained one of the world-highest GDP growth rates at 8.15 per cent.

The economic GDP in last four years maintained a growth rate of more than 7.0 per cent.

According to BBS's final estimation for FY2021, the country's total size of GDP at current price stood at US$416 billion or Tk 35.30 trillion.

The higher GDP size finally also boosted the per-capita income (gross national income) of Bangladeshis to $2,591 in the last fiscal from the previous provisional data of $2,554.

Meanwhile, the BBS started calculating GDP changing the base year to 2015-16 from the previous base year 2005-06.

The new base year changed the per-capita Gross National Income (GNI) of the country and its estimated GDP growth in the last fiscal.

According to BBS's final estimation, the GDP in the FY2021 expanded at 6.94 per cent underpinned by an impressive industrial growth during the period.

During July 2020-to-June 2021 period of the last FY, the GDP growth in the industrial sector was 10.29 per cent.

Besides, agriculture had also shown an impressive growth trend at 3.17 per cent while the services sector grown at a moderate rate of 5.73 per cent, BBS data show.

According to BBS's provisional estimation at constant price based on the 2015-16 base year, the agriculture sector had expanded at 2.37-per cent rate, the industrial sector at 5.99 per cent and the services sector at 5.86 per cent.

The investment-GDP ratio for the last fiscal had also shown an upward trend at 31.02 per cent compared to the provisional estimation of 30.76 per cent.

Explaining the growth dynamics State Minister for Planning Prof Shamsul Alam says, "The GDP expanded in the country due to higher remittance, export and revenue collection in the last fiscal year."

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