Bangladesh’s GDP grew by 6.07% in Q1 of FY24

Bangladesh’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 6.07 per cent in the first quarter (July-September) of the current fiscal year 2023-24.

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the national statistical agency, published the GDP data on Thursday for the first time in line with the conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The first quarter’s expansion was a decline of 2.69 percentage points from the 8.76 per cent growth recorded in July-September 2022-23. It was 5.16 per cent in the first quarter of fiscal year 2021-22.

The agriculture sector witnessed a growth of 0.84 per cent in July-September, while it was 2.07 per cent in the same period of FY23. The service sector’s growth fell to 3.96 per cent from 12.87 per cent, while the industrial sector grew 9.67 per cent from 7.17 per cent.

Dr Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, told UNB that the slowdown in growth is a reflection of the country's macroeconomic situation.

Bangladesh Bank former governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed told UNB that the ongoing financial crisis is reflected in the GDP.

The financial crisis would not ease until the US dollar crisis was resolved, he said.