The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasted Bangladesh's economic growth at 6.2 per cent in the current calendar year (CY), a report of the global financial institution said on Friday.
The country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth would pick up to 6.4 per cent in the next CY, said the Asia and Pacific Regional Economic Outlook Update, released by the IMF from its headquarters in Washington on the day.
The report was released as the World Bank-IMF annual meetings kicked off in Washington on Friday.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) last month predicted the economic growth at 6.4 per cent in the current financial year (FY) 2014-15. Besides, the World Bank in its latest projection also forecasted 6.2 per cent growth in the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
The government has targeted 7.2 per cent economic growth in the current FY. The economy in the last FY posted a growth rate of 6.12 per cent.
The IMF Economic Outlook has shown that neighbouring India will see an economic growth rate of 5.6 per cent in the CY 2014 while Sri Lanka will post an impressive rate of 7.0 per cent.
According to the IMF's economic outlook, Myanmar's GDP will grow the highest 8.5 per cent in the Asia Pacific region in the CY 2014. Some other East Asian countries like Cambodia, the Philippines and Malaysia will also grow at an impressive pace. The Chinese economy would grow at the rate of 7.4 per cent in the CY 2014 but the growth would slide to 7.1 per cent in the following CY, the IMF economic outlook projected.
The IMF report said Asia's outlook was expected to remain solid, helped by the ongoing global recovery and still broadly accommodative financial conditions and policies.
The GDP growth for the Asia Pacific Region might reach 5.5 per cent in 2014 and accelerate slightly to 5.6 per cent in 2015, the global financial institution said.
"The strong momentum in the United States and the gradual-yet fragile-global recovery should continue to provide an impetus to Asia's exports, while strong credit growth and relatively low interest rates propel domestic demand. Rising confidence, coupled with strong equity market valuations, is also expected to help investment in a number of economies," said the IMF report.
The IMF economic outlook said global downside risks to the outlook increased.
"Relative to April, the risk of sluggish global growth in advanced economies and emerging markets has come to the fore and geopolitical tensions have become more acute. Even so, valuations in global financial markets have been further stretched against the backdrop of still abundant global liquidity and greater risk appetite by investors," the IMF said.
In the near term, the Asia Pacific region could also be adversely affected by a sharper growth slowdown in China or either a failure or delay in implementing structural reforms in Japan, it added.
"In China, real estate has been a significant growth engine, but it has shown growing signs of imbalance and activity has softened this year. This could affect real and financial activity, given significant linkages between housing finance and nonbank financial intermediation (which has been growing rapidly). More broadly, declines in house prices elsewhere in the region would also adversely affect activity and private consumption," the IMF outlook said.
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IMF forecasts 6.2pc BD growth in 2014
FE Report | Published: October 11, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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