GDP Growth
Zubair Sadeque Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
The Honourable Finance Minister's observation that the country's GDP growth will be 7% this fiscal year is something that, if actually achieved, would be a pleasant respite from the continuous stream of bad news in the national arena. Given the recent social and political turmoil that the ordinary people are going through, this will give them at least a ray of hope for a better future. While economists stress the importance of having at least an 8% GDP growth rate in order to alleviate poverty from this impoverished nation, the country has been reeling under a GDP growth of 6% for years. For a developing country like ours, this is not nearly enough to achieve any significant breakthrough in poverty alleviation and economic emancipation. But like many other people of the country, I find it rather hard to believe that the economy is really going to achieve the rate projected by the Finance Minister. There are reasons to be sceptical particularly when Bangladesh Bank's projections are in the range of 6.4-6.8%. The projected GDP growth rate that the government announces in its annual budget has, to the best of my knowledge, never been met. The Finance Minister's observation about the outdated baseline of BBS statistics may be a genuine observation, but it calls for scepticism. The last thing the country needs is political manipulation of the economic indicators in the name of updating them. I just hope that the Finance Minister is correct and the country really achieves a 7% GDP growth rate this year. We need some good news at this moment when the nation is going through one of the most turbulent periods of its history.
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