Bangladesh's manufacturing sector's contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) has plunged in the outgoing fiscal as industrial production suffered during the period due to political turmoil, officials said Tuesday.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data show that the growth in large, medium and small industrial units has been estimated at 8.68 per cent in the outgoing financial year (FY) 2013-14 from 10.31 per cent in the last FY2013.
"The political turmoil and massive violence in the first half of the current fiscal have hit the manufacturing sector hard resulting in lower growth in the outgoing fiscal," said Professor Shamsul Alam, chief of the General Economics Division.
Had the manufacturing sector performed better, the country's overall GDP growth would cross 6.5 per cent, he told the FE.
In the manufacturing sector, the small-scale industries' sub-sector has performed worst as its growth has declined to 6.60 percent in the current FY2014, 2.21 percentage points fall than that in the last FY2013.
The growth in the large and medium industries sub-sector was also lower than the previous fiscal as it has been estimated at 9.16 per cent this fiscal year compared to that of 10.65 per cent in the previous fiscal, a fall by 1.49 percentage points.
Bangladesh's largest agriculture sector's growth in the GDP has, however, been impressive in the outgoing fiscal as crops and horticulture sub-sector performed well, BBS said.
The national statistical department in its provisional data showed that the agricultural growth at constant price has expanded by 0.99 percentage points to 2.46 per cent in the outgoing FY2014.
In the last FY2013, the agriculture sector's growth fell to 1.47 per cent from that of 2.41 per cent in the previous FY2012.
Professor Shamsul Alam said since the agricultural production has been raised, value of the crops increased and the productivity of the lands picked up, the growth in the country's largest sector is outstanding which recovered from a setback in the previous FY2013.
The BBS has showed that the service sector has also witnessed a better performance in the current FY 2014 compared to the previous fiscal.
According to BBS, the communications, hotel & business, banking, real estate, renting & business activities, health and social works, education, public administration and defence sub-sectors have performed better in the outgoing fiscal compared to that of the previous fiscal resulting in higher growth in the service sector.
BBS data showed that the communications sub-sector has expanded to 6.47 per cent in the outgoing fiscal, 0.20 percentage points higher than the previous FY2013.
Planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said, "Although political violence gripped the country in the first six months of the current fiscal, exports maintained a 19.96 per cent growth."
Besides, the number of motorised vehicles and their fares had increased, manual transports were used more in place of motorised ones, rickshaws during the strike period were higher in number, government employees received 20 per cent dearness allowances, and the fees and allowances in the banking sector were raised in the year. The GDP growth has not been affected, he claimed.
Among other sectors, the growth at the construction sub-sector has showed higher to 8.56 per cent in the outgoing FY 2014 compared to 8.04 per cent in the last FY2013.
The real estate, renting and business activities have also performed better in the last fiscal as it marked a 3.92 percent growth in the outgoing fiscal. In the previous FY2013, the growth in this sector was 3.88 per cent.
The hotel and restaurant has also marked higher growth to 6.70 percent in the current fiscal compared to 6.49 per cent in the previous FY2013, the provisional estimation of BBS said.
In the current fiscal, BBS has estimated the GDP growth at 6.12 per cent, a 1.08 percentage points lower than the target of 7.2 per cent.
Political violence, labour unrest in the garment sector, insufficient private investment, and external shocks due to financial crisis in the USA and Europe are the major reasons of lower economic growth in Bangladesh, Professor Shamsul Alam said.
Prof Alam has laid emphasis on extending the private investments to boost country's economy at double-digit in the coming years.
Contribution of manufacturing sector to GDP falls in FY \\\'14
FHM Humayan Kabir | Published: June 04, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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