The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered Bangladesh's economic-growth projection for the fiscal year 2025-26 to 4.9 per cent from the previous 5.4 per cent made in June.
In its latest World Economic Outlook for October 2025 released Tuesday, the multilateral lender also projected that the rate of inflation would stand at 8.7 per cent in FY26, an upward revision of its June projection of 6.2 per cent.
Earlier on October 7, the World Bank in its latest Bangladesh Development Update stated that the country was expected to maintain an upward growth trajectory in the medium term, but urgent reforms were critical to sustaining growth and job creation, especially for youth and women.
It projected that gross domestic product (GDP) growth would rise to 4.8 per cent in FY26 from 4.0 per cent in FY25, and to 6.3 per cent in FY27.
The IMF in its Tuesday's release also downgraded the global growth forecast by 0.2 percentage points from its forecast a year earlier.
It projected global growth at 3.2 per cent for this year and 3.1 per cent for next year, a cumulative downgrade of 0.2 percentage points.
"Global growth is holding steady despite major policy shifts. The increase in tariffs and its effect has been smaller than expected so far. This is thanks to new trade deals, multiple exemptions, and the private sector's agility in rerouting supply chains," said IMF's Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, unveiling the outlook.
"Yet, beneath the steady surface, complex forces are at work," he warned.
Gourinchas said easy financial conditions and a weaker dollar, fiscal stimulus in some major countries, and surging artificial intelligence investment were all shaping activity and inflation dynamics.
syful-islam@outlook.com
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