Service sector\\\'s contribution to GDP marks fall since FY ‘11

Share of service sector to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has marked a steep fall since the financial year 2010-11 as its contribution to the outgoing fiscal has plummeted again, officials said Saturday.
Bangladesh Statistical Bureau (BBS) data showed the share of the service sector to the country's GDP at constant price has been estimated to fall by 0.17 percentage points to 54.05 per cent in the outgoing financial year (FY) 2014 from 54.22 per cent of the previous FY2013.
The service sector's contribution to the GDP reached its peak in the Bangladesh's history in FY2011 when it was recorded at 54.61 per cent, the BBS data, utilising the new base year 2005-06, showed.
After the highest contribution in FY2011, the share of the service sector started to plunge from the consecutive year. In FY 2012, the share of the service sector declined to 54.54 per cent, and in FY2013 it decreased to 54.22 per cent of the total GDP.
 "Since the political turmoil hit the country hard in the first half of the current financial year, the service sector has been affected much and its overall contribution to the GDP plummeted a little bit," said Professor Shamsul Alam, member, planning commission.
Similarly, the contribution of the agriculture sector to the GDP has also dropped in the outgoing FY2014 to 16.33 per cent from 16.78 per cent in the previous FY2013, BBS statistics showed.
However, the share of the industrial sector to the GDP has enhanced in the current fiscal registering (provisional figure) at 29.61 per cent, a 0.61 percentage points up from the last FY2013.
Professor Shamsul Alam said the share of the industrial sector has been increasing over the years in Bangladesh which is encouraging for the country's economic growth and employment opportunities.
Among the service sector, the share of the financial institutional services sub-sector to the GDP has dropped to 3.39 per cent in the current fiscal from 3.30 per cent in the last FY2013, BBS provisional statistics showed.
The contribution of the real estate, renting and other business sub-sector has also dropped significantly to 6.95 per cent in the outgoing fiscal from 7.07 per cent in the last fiscal.
Among the industrial sector, the manufacturing sub-sector has done well in its input to GDP as it has recorded a 19.45 per cent contribution in the current fiscal from 19 per cent in the last FY2013, BBS data showed.
Meanwhile, the growth of the industrial sector has been projected below compared to the previous FY2013 while that of the service and agriculture sectors have been shown to be higher.
In the FY2014, the BBS estimated that the industrial sector had grown at 8.39 per cent from its expansion of 9.64 per cent in the previous FY2013.
The service sector growth recovered a little bit in the current fiscal maintaining a 5.83 per cent growth. In the last FY2013, its growth was recorded at 5.51 per cent, BBS data showed.
In the outgoing FY2014, the country's GDP growth has been estimated at 6.12 per cent, a 1.08 percentage points lower than 7.2 per cent preliminary target.
The GDP represents the aggregate value of goods and services in an economy.
Development Analyst Dr Ahsan H Mansur said there is question mark  about the growth estimation of the service sector by the government.
Since the political turmoil hit the country's service sector hard before the January 5 election, the growth of the service sector should be dropped which was not reflected in the BBS data, he said.