The World Bank has predicted that Bangladesh’s GDP (gross domestic product) growth will markedly slow to 1.6 per cent in the fiscal year (FY) 2019-20, which ends this June.
The Washington-based lending agency has made the prediction in its report titled "Global Economic Prospects 2020".
Bangladesh's growth slowness will happen in this fiscal year due to the COVID-19 pandemic-related disruptions, including mitigation measures, and sharp falls in exports and remittance inflows, it observed in the report.
In South Asia, the report projected, the GDP will contract by 2.7 per cent in 2020 as pandemic mitigation measures hinder consumption and services and uncertainty about the course of the pandemic chill private investment.
The global lending agency also forecast that the global economy will shrink by 5.2 percent in 2020 – the deepest global recession in eight decades, despite unprecedented policy support.
The global recession would be deeper if bringing the pandemic under control took longer than expected, or if financial stress triggered cascading defaults, it observed.
The COVID-19 pandemic has spread with astonishing speed to every part of the world and infected millions since it was first confirmed in China in late December 2019.
The health and human toll is already large and continues to grow, with hundreds of thousands of deaths and many more suffering from diminished prospects and disrupted livelihoods.
The pandemic represents the largest economic shock the world economy has witnessed in decades, causing a collapse in global activity.