WB cuts Bangladesh growth target by 0.9 percent to 5.2 percent

The World Bank on Wednesday cut Bangladesh's economic growth (gross domestic product -GDP) forecast for the 2022-23 fiscal year further by 0.9 percent to 5.2 percent, due to a combination of factors including elevated inflation, energy shortages and tightening of the monetary policy.

The GDP growth has been predicted in the World Bank's 'Global Economic Prospects report released on Tuesday night.

The forecast is down from 7.2 percent growth in the previous year.

The government has set a target of 7.5 percent GDP growth in the current financial year.

The World Bank said that the growth of Bangladesh may increase slightly to 6.2 percent in the next financial year.

According to the report, the economy of Bangladesh is being affected due to the global context. “Bangladesh’s economy is affected by the global situation and the sharp increase in fuel prices in the international market,” it said.

As a result, there has been a disruption in power supply to industries and households. Industrial production has been disrupted. The government had to do load-shedding to deal with the situation. Apart from this, buying of cars has been stopped as well as luxury goods have been discouraged, the World Bank report said.

Earlier, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) predicted a 6.6 percent GDP growth in Bangladesh in the current fiscal year. The ADB's growth forecast was based largely on a slowdown in domestic consumption demand, a decline in exports and remittances, and a slowdown in the global economy.