The World Bank has cut Bangladesh’s economic growth (gross domestic product -GDP) forecast for the 2022-23 fiscal year further by 0.9 per cent to 5.2 per cent, due to a combination of factors including elevated inflation, energy shortages and tightening of the monetary policy.
The GDP growth has been predicted in the World Bank’s “Global Economic Prospects” report released Tuesday night. The forecast is down from 7.2 per cent growth in the previous year, while the government has set a target of 7.5 per cent GDP growth in the current financial year.
According to the report, the growth of Bangladesh may increase slightly to 6.2 per cent in the next financial year.
The report added, “Bangladesh’s economy is affected by the global situation and the sharp increase in fuel prices in the international market.” As a result, there has been a disruption in power supply to industries and households. Industrial production has been disrupted.
The government had to do load-shedding to deal with the situation. Apart from this, buying of cars has been stopped as well as luxury goods have been discouraged, the World Bank report said.
Earlier, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) predicted a 6.6 per cent GDP growth in Bangladesh in the current fiscal year.
The ADB’s growth forecast was based largely on a slowdown in domestic consumption demand, a decline in exports and remittances, and a slowdown in the global economy.
