GDP revised at 6.8pc in FY15

The coordination council on macro-economy in a meeting on Wednesday decided to revise the country’s growth target of the gross domestic product at 6.8 per cent in the outgoing fiscal year. Officials attending the meeting said that the committee also fixed the GDP growth rate at 7.4 per cent for the next fiscal year. Headed by finance minister AMA Muhith, the committee cut the GDP growth rate half percentage point from the originally projected 7.3 per cent, in view of the losses speculated by the business communities due to political unrest during the last three months. Muhith told reporters after the meeting that they were expecting GDP growth close to seven per cent. The GDP growth rate would be more than seven per cent in the next fiscal year, he said. He said the revised budget in the outgoing fiscal year had been fixed at Tk 2,40,000 crore from original Tk 2,50560 crore. He said the size of the next budget would be around Tk 3,00,000 crore. The committee did not go for big cut after the policy makers were convinced that political unrest in the last three months had not caused major impact on the macro-economy. Local businessmen assessed that one day of blockade caused losses worth Tk 2,270 crore. Centre for Policy Dialogue, a local think-tank, on Sunday said the country lost 0.55 per cent of the gross domestic product or Tk 4,900 crore due to the political unrest from January to mid-March. The World Bank has projected that Bangladesh would achieve a 6.2 percent GDP growth in the current fiscal year. Asian Development Bank forecast GDP growth target at 6.4 per cent from 6.2 per cent for the current fiscal year. International Monetary Fund made the most conservative estimate, saying the growth rate would stand at 6.1 per cent in outgoing fiscal year. The Awami League-led alliance that has been in power since 2009 could not exceed GDP growth rate of 7.06 per cent in 2006-07 as per base year of 2004-05. The highest growth rate of 6.46 per cent under the AL regime was obtained in 2010-11.

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