World Economic Forum pegs Bangladesh's growth at 8 per cent this year

World Friday 10/January/2020 10:04 AM
By: Times News Service
World Economic Forum pegs Bangladesh's growth at 8 per cent this year

Muscat: Bangladesh, when formed in 1971, began with a negative GDP growth rate of -14%. Now things are looking good for the country, as it now has an average growth rate of 8 per cent, well above the Asian average, according to the Asian Development Bank.

Now, an article for the World Economic Forum (WEF) has highlighted that the country would maintain this growth rate in 2020, putting it ahead of other neighbours, including India. The article attributes a decline in population, which is increasing per capita income, to the growth story. "The number of employed workers living below the poverty line dropped from 73.5 per cent in 2010 to 10.4 per cent in 2018," the article said.

Classified by the United Nations as one of the world’s least developed countries (LDCs) since 1975, Bangladesh could shed that tag by 2024 if it continues on its current path of growth, the WEF predicted.

Bangladesh was 105th in the the Global Competitiveness Report 2019 from the WEF. The more competitive a country is, the more likely it is that it will be able to improve living standards.

The success of the garment trade industry, now at $30 billion, as well as the services sector, including microfinance and computing (53 per cent of GDP), are contributing to the growth.

"The success of the IT industry is central to the digital transformation and ongoing economic growth of Bangladesh. It exports nearly $1 billion of technology products every year – a figure that the government expects to increase to $5 billion by 2021. The country also has 600,000 IT freelancers," the WEF article said.