Bangladesh’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to 3.91% on a point-to-point basis at a fixed price value in the fourth quarter of FY24, compared to 6.88% in the same period in FY23
According to data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) released on Monday, GDP growth in the first three quarters of FY24 stood at 6.04%, 4.78% and 5.42% respectively, which was 6.25%, 7.05% and 3.02% in FY23 respectively.
On a point-to-point basis at a fixed price value, the agriculture sector grew at 5.27% in the fourth quarter (April-June) of FY24, compared to 6.55% during the same period in FY23.
The industrial sector grew at 3.98% in the fourth quarter in FY24, compared to 10.16% in FY23.
Besides, the services sector grew at 3.67% in the fourth quarter in FY24, compared to 4.82% in FY23.
The April-June quarter marked the lowest expansion of overall economic output in FY24 in Bangladesh, which continues to face the most alarming economic crisis in recent decades amid high inflation and dwindling forex reserves.
The World Bank in its October issue of Bangladesh Development Update said the real GDP growth of Bangladesh is estimated to have slowed to 5.2% in FY24 from 5.8% in FY23.
The multilateral lender also slashed its forecast for Bangladesh’s economic growth by 1.7 percentage points to 4% for FY25 due to significant uncertainties following recent political turmoil and data unavailability.
The International Monetary Fund last week also brought down Bangladesh’s economic growth forecast for this year to 4.5% as political uncertainty, industrial unrest and floods weigh heavily on economic activities.
The FY25 growth prediction so far would be lowest since FY20, when the world was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the same fiscal, the GDP growth was 3.45%, according to BBS.