Economy on sound track: BB report

The economic growth in the country is on a sound and rising trend with increased remittance inflow and export growth in the last three years, according to a central bank report. The report, released Thursday, said the remittance received in the last three years was about US$ 31.8 billion against $ 9.6 billion that came during 2002-2004, posting a 332 per cent growth, reports UNB. According to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) report titled 'Achievement in the banking sector in the last three years of the present government', the country saw huge growth (47 per cent) in export against 27 per cent of the first three years of the previous (BNP-Jamaat) government. The foreign currency reserve stood at $ 10.91 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2010-11 while it was $ 2.71 billion during the FY 2003-04. The report said the growth in agricultural production, manufacturing and service sectors helped achieve the economic growth of 5.7 per cent, 5.8 per cent and 6.7 per cent in the last three fiscal years respectively. Despite the global economic downturn, the Eurozone crisis in particular, the country's financial situation remained stable due to timely policy initiatives taken by the government and the central bank. However, the import expenditure has increased significantly. "The price hike of food, fuel, export-supporting cotton in the global market and import of capital machinery for setting up power plants are the reasons behind the overall increase in import expenditure." The import expenditure stood at $ 33.66 billion in the FY 2010-2011 which was 41.79 per cent higher than that of the previous fiscal.