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Economy grows faster at 7.28pc in FY ‘17

Per-capita income also rises higher by $8.0 to $1610 in final BBS calculation


FE Report | Wednesday, 15 November 2017



Bangladesh's economy grew faster at 7.28 per cent while per-capita income by US$8.0 to $1610 in the final official calculations for the past fiscal.
According to the statistics shown on Tuesday, the country's economy finally attained a higher 7.28 per cent growth in the last financial year (FY) 2016-17, some 0.04-percentage point up from the provisional data released six months back.
And the per-capita income (gross national income-GNI) also rose by $8.0 to $1610 in the final calculations from the provisional estimation of $1602, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data revealed.
Earlier, the official statistical agency had unveiled the provisional macroeconomic data of last fiscal on May 15.
According to BBS's final calculations, the GDP growth at constant price increased by 0.14 percentage point to 7.28 per cent in the FY2017 from 7.11 per cent in the previous FY2016.
The per-capita income (GNI) of the people also got an impressive boost by $145 to $1610 in the FY2017 from $1465 in the previous FY2016.
After Tuesday's meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in Dhaka, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal came up with the disclosure on the final GDP data calculated by the BBS.
Mr Kamal said the size of the economy now picked up to US$250 billion which was only $100 billion in the 34th year of Bangladesh's independence.
According to BBS count of sector-wise performances, Bangladesh's industrial sector expanded at a 10.22 per cent rate, while the service sector at 6.69 per cent and agriculture at 2.97 per cent in the last FY2017.
"Bangladesh is one of the three economies in the world which has entered into the 7.0 per cent growth-rate club within the shortest time. The other two countries are Ethiopia and Cambodia," said Mr Kamal.
The planning minister said Bangladesh's GDP growth will hopefully cross 8.0 per cent rate in 2019 and hover from 9.0 to 10 per cent by the year 2030.
"So, we are hopeful of attaining our target to become a developed country by 2041," he told the journalists.
The minister also unveiled on Tuesday point-to-point inflation of last month, October, which declined to 6.04 per cent from 6.12 per cent in the previous month (September).
He said since the prices of rice and vegetables are maintaining falling trends, the inflation kept curving down. He is hopeful about further decline in the inflation rate.
Meanwhile, the GDP growth of the country at constant price has surpassed all previous records, breaking out of '6.0 per cent growth trap' after long nine years in FY2016. In the FY2016, Bangladesh's economy had expanded at 7.11 per cent against 6.55 per cent of FY2015.

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