Bangladesh's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 4.22% in the challenging 2023-24 fiscal year, marking the slowest expansion in four years.

The final growth figure is 1.6 percentage points lower than the provisional estimate of 5.82% released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

The government had initially set a GDP growth target of 7.50% in its budget, later revising it down to 6.5%. However, the actual growth rate fell well below expectations, highlighting the country's economic struggles.

In 2018-19, Bangladesh achieved a record 8.15 per cent GDP growth before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, leading to a sharp decline to 3.45 per cent in 2019-20, the lowest in decades.

The 2023-24 fiscal year now stands as the weakest growth period since then.

The country's GDP, measured by the total value of goods and services produced, stood at Tk 50,027 billion or $450 billion in the final estimate for 2023-24.

This is also lower than the provisional estimate of $459 billion published in August 2024.

With the GDP decline, Bangladesh’s per capita gross national income, or GNI, has dropped to $2,738, down from the earlier projection of $2,784.

GOVERNMENT'S OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK

Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam, however, claimed that Bangladesh’s economy has “rebounded remarkably” in the five months since the interim government took office.

Speaking at a press conference at the Foreign Service Academy on Sunday, he highlighted improvements in key economic indicators such as export earnings, inflation, and foreign reserves.

A review meeting, led by Yunus, was held on the economic performance of the government’s first five months and the challenges ahead.

It was attended by Finance Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed, Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Advisor Fouzul Kabir Khan, Food Advisor Ali Imam Majumder, and Governor Ahsan H Mansur.

"Bangladesh's economy has made a strong turnaround, as noted by the attendees at the meeting. The country’s key economic indicators have visibly improved over the past five months," Shafiqul said.

"In these five months, exports have grown by 10 per cent, imports have increased, and new jobs are being created.

“The government has halted money printing and continued efforts to cut unnecessary development expenditures," he said.

Quoting Finance Secretary Khairuzzaman Majumdar’s presentation, Shafiqul said: “The presentation covered economic conditions, food security, financial health, foreign trade, and the energy sector.”

Yunus expressed satisfaction with the overall situation, his press secretary said.

INFLATION DECLINES

Describing the government's efforts to control inflation, Press Secretary Shafiqul said: “At one point, inflation had risen to 12 percent. Now, on a point-to-point basis, it has come down to a single-digit figure. Increasing interest rates to control inflation is a globally recognised method, and we are seeing that it is working.

“We firmly believe that by July, inflation will be around 7.5 percent. Due to the food supply situation, cost of living, and overall availability, there will be no inflation-related challenges during Ramadan.”

Shafiqul said measures to control inflation included a contractionary monetary policy and a supportive fiscal policy.

“The policy interest rate was 8 per cent in 2024. It gradually increased to 10 per cent in December. The upper limit of the policy interest rate corridor has been raised to 11.5 per cent.”

Since the 2022-23 fiscal year, average inflation remained above 9 percent.

However, the previous government presented the data “differently,” according to the press secretary.

“Many data points were manipulated,” he said.

“Even though actual inflation was much higher, it was shown as 9 percent. In July of the fiscal year, inflation exceeded 11 percent. By the end of January 2025, it had surpassed 9.94 percent,” he said.