Country’s growth has surpassed last forecast at the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) as its agriculture and industry growth was higher than expected, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said.
Preliminary government estimates of GDP (gross domestic product) growth in financial year (FY) 2018 in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan surpassed ADO 2018 forecasts, said the ADO supplement, released Thursday from its headquarters in Manila.
Industry growth in Bangladesh was higher on stronger performances in manufacturing and construction, said the report.
“Agriculture growth was higher than expected in Bangladesh as the authorities offset flood-induced losses to the summer and monsoon rice crops by quickly extending seedlings and other support services to farmers,” the latest ADO supplement said.
The ADB in its last ADO, released in April this year, forecasted a lower 7.0 per cent Bangladesh’s economic growth for the outgoing FY2018.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in its provisional estimation showed that the GDP in the FY2018 has expanded at 7.65 per cent rate in the last fiscal.
The ADB report said the inflation in Bangladesh is estimated at 5.8 per cent in FY2018, lower than the 6.1 per cent forecasted at ADB’s ADO in April this year.
The improved rice supply, resulting from a surge in rice imports and the arrival of winter rice crop on the market, has cooled down the inflation across the country, it said.
On the South Asian outlook, the ADO supplement said South Asia’s economy will grow at higher 7.2 per cent rate in the current FY2019.
