The Asian Development Bank has cut Bangladesh’s growth forecast from 6.8 per cent to 5.5 per cent for 2021 in its latest report on the state of Asian economies.
The Manila-based institution also lowered the projected growth for 2022 from 7.2 per cent to 6.8 per cent in its September update published on Wednesday.
The GDP growth rate for the entire South Asia region – consisting of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka – was lowered from 9.5 per cent to 8.8 per cent.
The continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic is largely responsible for the revision down as the emergence of new variants, stop-start vaccine rollouts and prolonged lockdowns hampered the recovery.
Bangladesh’s forecasts for 2021 were largely affected by the resurgence in COVID-19 cases this year, ADB said.
It also noted that Bangladesh’s vaccination rates were also amongst the lowest in the region, below most other South Asian countries, such as Nepal, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, reports bdnews24.com.