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GDP growth hits 8.15pc in FY 19 BBS releases final figures

FE Report | December 11, 2019 00:00:00


Bangladesh's economy expanded at a striking 8.15 per cent rate in fiscal year (FY) 2018-19, a slight 0.02-percentage point higher from a provisional estimation.

In its interim assessment this March, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) recorded an impressive 8.13 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) rate.

The statistics bureau on Tuesday in the capital, Dhaka, unveiled its final GDP growth data and other related macroeconomic indicators.

Planning minister MA Mannan made the disclosures following a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).

He said the higher economic growth was propelled by the exponential growth of the country's industrial and service sectors in parallel.

GDP grew at 7.86 per cent rate in the previous FY 2018.

Meanwhile, the per-capita income (gross national income or GNI) was estimated at $1,909 for the past FY 2019, $158 up from the fiscal before last.

In FY 2018, the income was $1,751 per head.

Official data shows GDP per capita was estimated at $1827 for FY 2019, $152 higher over FY 2018.

According to BBS statisticians, economic growth at constant price has been maintaining a steep rise even after the country's entry into the "7.0-per cent growth club" in FY 2016.

Three years ago, the economy inflated at a 7.11-per cent rate, simply breaking the "6.0-per cent growth trap" after a nine-year history.

It was recorded at 7.28 per cent in FY 2017 and 7.86 per cent in the subsequent FY 2018.

According to the BBS final data, the country's total GDP size at current price boosted to Tk 25.42 trillion ($302.43 billion) in FY 2019.

It was Tk 22.50 trillion ($274 billion) in FY 2018.

GNI also expanded to Tk 26.497 trillion ($315.97 billion) in FY 2019 from that of Tk 23.53 trillion ($286.612 billion) in FY 2018.

GNI is calculated incorporating the total remittance inflow with the total GDP of a particular country in a certain fiscal year.

According to the BBS GDP data on constant prices, the industrial sector expanded at a striking rate of 12.67 per cent in FY 2019.

In FY 2018, the rate was recorded at 12.06 per cent.

The service sector grew at an estimated 6.78 per cent in last fiscal from that of 6.39 per cent in the fiscal before that, the data disclosed.

But the agricultural growth fell to a 3.92-per cent rate in FY 2019 from that of 4.19 per cent in FY 2018.

Meanwhile, the investment-GDP ratio has finally been estimated at a slightly higher 31.57 per cent in FY 2019 from that of 31.23 per cent in FY 2018.

The BBS in its provisional estimation showed the ratio at 31.56 per cent.

The private sector investment-GDP ratio has picked up to 23.54 per cent from the provisionally estimated 23.26 per cent.

Similarly, the public sector investment-GDP ratio has also risen to 8.03 per cent from the provisional estimation of 7.97 per cent.

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