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An impressive industrial output beefed up Bangladesh's economy as of the second quarter of this fiscal when gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 4.48 per cent, latest official data showed.
Also, props came from the services and agriculture sectors for the economic pickup as both performed better in the Q2 (October-December) of the financial year (FY) 2024-25, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) statistics published Tuesday.
In the Q1 of the FY2025, the GDP plunged to a rock-bottom 1.96 per cent, which now recovered coupled with a 7.10-percent growth in the industries sector, the BBS shows.
According to the bureau, the services sector lifted a bit in the Q2 (Oct-Dec) while the agriculture sector gave a better output to the national economy in the same period.
Economists say the massive dollar crisis and global shocks mainly hit Bangladesh's GDP in the previous time when both import and export slowed down and the inflationary pressure affected consumptions.
According to the BBS, the GDP growth at constant price was 4.47 per cent in the 2nd quarter of the last FY2024 and 6.90 per cent in Q2FY2023.
Meanwhile, the current interim government has revised down the economic-growth projection for FY2025 to 5.25 per cent from the initial 6.75 per cent in view of the ongoing challenges in the economy.
Besides, the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have also forecast a lower GDP growth for Bangladesh for the current fiscal amid the economic slowdown against the backdrop of recent political volatility.
According to the BBS, the growth rate in the industrial sector on a point-to-point basis increased to 7.10 per cent in Q2 (Oct-Dec) of the FY2025 from that of 1.04 per cent in the corresponding period of FY2024.
In addition, the growth in the services sector nearly halved to 3.78 per cent in the second quarter this fiscal from that of 7.10 per cent in the same period last FY2024.
Meanwhile, the economic output from the agriculture sector also showed a comparative fall as it was recorded at 1.25 per cent in Q2 this fiscal from 4.09 per cent in the corresponding period last FY2024.
A senior BBS official says quarterly GDP has been started to be published from the Q1 last FY2024 as per suggestion of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "It shows the capacity improvement in BBS in presenting quality data," he adds about corrections to previous flaws.
"Nevertheless, the QGDP data will be more authentic while we will produce all the data through our own survey without reliance on the administrative data of different ministries," says the statistician.
Bangladesh's GDP size at current price stood at Tk 14.04 trillion and at constant price Tk 8.867 trillion, the BBS data showed.
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