The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) has said today that Bangladesh’s GDP growth will be no more than 2.5 percent this fiscal year, and that poverty will soar by 35 percent. CPD made these projections under an “optimistic scenario”, saying that this is the best case of the country’s economic growth given that no further nationwide shutdowns are put in place to restrict the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. In the previous fiscal year, Bangladesh saw GDP growth of 8.15 percent — an all-time high — and riding on the back of record growth figures from 2016 onwards. Previously, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) had all predicted GDP growth of less than 4 percent for Bangladesh, with EIU going the lowest with 1.6 percent and IMF being the most optimistic, with a 3.8 percent GDP growth projected. If the GDP growth does come down to 2.5 percent as per CPD’s projections, it will be the lowest figure in 25 years in Bangladesh according to Bangladesh Bank data, since 1994 saw 4.1 percent growth.
