BD on track to become a trillion-dollar economy

Boarding on an ambitious business community, fast-growing consumer market and improved industrial and agricultural output, Bangladesh's GDP will touch down the trillion dollar mark sooner than the expectation.

The observation came at an event to unveil a report titled "The Trillion Dollar Prize -Local Champions Leading the Way" at a hotel in the city's Gulshan-2.

The report was prepared by US-based research organisation Boston Consulting Group based on interviews of about 30 local champion companies.

State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak addressed the programme as the chief guest while HSBC Bangladesh Country Head (Corporate Commercial Banking) Riaz A Choudhury presented the keynote paper.

Global Chairman of BCG Hans-Paul Burkner, Senior Partner and Managing Director of BCG Zarif Munir and Partner and Managing Director of BCG Saibal Chakraborty also spoke at the programme.

In his presentation, Mr Chowdhury said the study affirms that Bangladesh has emerged as one of the fastest-growing economies beating its major peers like Vietnam, India, Indonesia and Thailand and is on track to become a trillion-dollar economy.

He said Bangladesh's economy will become the 26th largest in 2030 from 42nd in 2018.

The success will come depending on ballooning domestic demand, improved international connectivity, and digital transformation.

In his speech, the State Minister, referring to the resilience of the country's economy, said, "We have seen how the tech-based companies grew exponentially during the Covid-19 pandemic by taking the services to the doorsteps."

In the coming years, Bangladeshi companies will need to utilise artificial intelligence, big data analytics, blockchain etc to enter the age of fourth industrial revolution (4IR), he added.

Presenting the summary of the report, Mr Munir said different factors including solid optimism, rise in consumption, young and growing workforce, high economic resilience, digital momentum, government initiatives and a large, well-managed private sector have been instrumental in driving the economic growth of Bangladesh.

He said the study concludes that the government will have to create favourable environment for the champions (emerging companies) and help them go to the next level through national programmes and development of digital infrastructure.

The report explores Bangladesh's impressive growth pathway, as it is set to break the trillion-dollar GDP barrier in coming years, he said.

It looked into the DNA of some of the nation's largest, most innovative companies, to understand their strategies in leveraging and energising this period of exponential growth, he added.

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