THE SEEKERS

TOPIC:
Present Status of Bangladesh Economy
• Market based economy.
• Currency: Bangladeshi Taka (BDT).
• Fiscal Year: 1 July-. 30 June (wikipedia.org).
• Financial Centers: Dhaka, Chattogram (wikipedia.org).
• GDP Per Capita: 1,827 USD (June, 2019) (ceicdata.com).
• Nominal GDP Growth: 12.695% (ceicdata.com).
• Remittance: 14.34 billion US$ (April, 2019) (tradingeconomics.com).
• Exports & Imports: 31.73 & 48.06 billion US$ (tradingeconomics.com).
• Trade Balance: -16.32 billion US$ (tradingeconomics.com).
• Trade Organizations: SAFTA, SAARC, BIMSTEC, WTO, AIIB, IMF,
Commonwealth of Nations, World Bank (wikipedia.org).
 Economy of Dhaka
• Dhaka is the commercial center of Bangladesh.
• GDP: 156 billion US$ (nominal) (wikipedia.org).
• It is accounting for 35% of Bangladesh's economy (wikipedia.org).
• Population Below Poverty Line: 13% (wikipedia.org).
• Public Finances- Expenses: 490 million US$ (DSCC+DNCC) (wikipedia.org).
• Sectors- The manufacture of brick is in Dhaka's suburbs, which adds little to gross national product and adds
significantly to PM 2.5 air pollution (wikipedia.org).
International trade and other sectors: Dhaka has derived significant revenue from International trade, Textile,
Pharma-chemical, financial institutions. Exports of goods made in Dhaka totaled approximately US$10 billion
(2012), with a rapid growth in Pharma-chemical and IT with 15.68% and 7.28% growth (wikipedia.org).
 Economic Sectors
Agriculture:
• Bangladesh's economy grew 7.86% riding on
the agriculture sector but the rate has dropped
(thedailystar.net). Agriculture in South-Asia: 2nd
position (thedailystar.net).
• Tea Exports: 10 million BDT (May, 2019)
(ceicdata.com).
• Jute, the Golden Fiber of Bangladesh, is facing a
crisis period partly due to the advent of artificial
fibers.
Tourism:
• Revenue of 5,000 crore BDT and 97.05 million
US$ made from domestic and foreign tourists
(assignmentpoint.com).
Manufacturing and Industry:
• Manufacturing production increased 13% in
February, 2019 over the previous year.
The average is 12.25 % from 2013 until 2019
(tradingeconomics.com).
Shipbuilding and Shipbreaking:
• Khulna Shipyard Limited (KSY) is leading the
Bangladesh Shipbuilding industry.
• World’s largest ship breaking industry
employing over 200,000 Bangladeshis.
• Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard- world’s 2nd
largest ship breaking area.
(wikipedia.org)
 More Economic Sectors
Finance:
• Comprised of 3 broad fragmented
sectors- Formal Sector, Semi-formal
Sector, Informal Sector.
• 59 Scheduled Banks- 6 SOCBs, 3 SDBs,
41 PCBs, 33 Conventional PCBs, 8
Islamic Shariah Based PCBs and 9 FCBs.
• 5 Non-scheduled Banks- Ansar VDP
Unnayan Bank, Karmashangosthan Bank,
Grameen Bank, Jubilee Bank, Palli
Sanchay Bank.
• 34 Non Bank Financial Institutions (FIs).
source bb.org.bd
Information and Communication
Technology:
• Allocation for the Information and
Communication Technology Division
rose by 11.11% from previous year's
budget to 1,930 crore BDT in the
proposed budget for the 2019-2020
fiscal.
• Bangladesh aims to raise its export
earnings from the information and
communications technology (ICT)
sector to 5 billion US$ by 2021.
source: dhakatribune.com
 Economic Factors
GDP: World Bank (WB) keeps Bangladesh’s growth rate
for the outgoing fiscal year unchanged at 7.3%.
However, the government estimated 8.13% GDP
growth for the fiscal year 2018-19 to end on June 30
(sources: tradingeconomics.com & dhakatribune.com)
Inflation: The annual inflation rate edged up to 5.55
percent in March, 2019 from 5.47% in the prior
month. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose
0.42% after a 0.08% drop in February. Inflation Rate
averaged 6.53% from 1994 until 2019 (statista.com).
 Exchange Rate
• Inter-bank exchange rate as on June 12, 2019:
• Currency- Bangladeshi TAKA (BDT). CURRENCY DAY’S LOWEST DAY’S HIGHEST
• The most popular- EUR to BDT rate, which is USD 84.5000 84.5000
94.3612BDT= 1EUR. • Cross rates as on June 12, 2019:
• Among the popular USD to BDT rate is one of the

(source: bb.org.bd)
CURRENCY BUYING SELLING
top rankers. 84.53 BDT = 1USD.
EUR 95.3752 95.4174
• Historically, the Bangladeshi taka reached an all
GBP 107.1967 107.2390
time high of 85.05BDT in October, 2018, and a
record low of 40.10BDT in June, 1995. AUD 58.5416 58.5585
• The exchange rates of Bangladesh are prone to JPY 0.7787 0.7789
change in the future, as they were in the past. CAD 63.3196 63.3386
CNH 12.1948 12.1990
 Unemployment Rate
• The share of labor force that is without work but seeking employment is unemployment rate.
• The Rate dropped to 4.31 % in Dec 2018 (tradingeconomics.com).
• Recent slowdown in job creation in the private sector & garment factories should be treated as a looming
threat to the economy.
• The rate is possibly one of the highest particularly among the educated youth.
• Bangladesh follows the ILO, which seems to be non-reflective of the actual situation in the market.
• The rate is expected to be 4.30% by the end of
this quarter, according to Trading Economics global
macro models and analysts expectations.
• In the long-term, the Rate is projected to trend
around 4.20 % in 2020, according to econometric
Models (tradingeconomics.com).
 Macro-Economic trend
Macro-economics is a branch of economics that studies how the aggregate economy behaves.
This is a chart of trend of gross domestic product of Bangladesh at market prices estimated by the
International Monetary Fund. However, this reflects only the formal sector of the economy.
YEAR GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT US DOLLAR INFLATION INDEX Per CAPITA INCOME
(MILLION TAKA) EXCHANGE (2000-100) (As % of USA)
1995 1,594,210 40.27 Taka 78 1.12
2000 2,453,160 52.14 Taka 100 0.97
2005 3,913,334 63.92 Taka 126 0.95
2008 5,003,438 68.65 Taka 147
2015 17,295,665 78.15 Taka 196 2.48
2018 26,714,392 83.64 Taka 236 1.75
Source: Wikipedia.org
 Bangladeshi Women and The Economy
• Bangladesh secured the 47th position among 144 countries in 2017 as per The Global Gender Gap
Report, whereas India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan remain at 108, 109, 111, 124 and 143
positions respectively.
• Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal proposed an allocation of Tk1,61,247 crore, which is 5.56% of
GDP, and 30.82% of the proposed budget for FY2019-20, for the development of women in the
country.
• The budget proposal also saw an increase in the allocation for Ministry of Women and Children
Affairs to Tk3,749 crore for FY2019-20, from Tk3,457 crore (revised) in the last fiscal.
• the proposed budget also calls for a Value Added Tax (VAT) exemption on showroom rent for women
entrepreneurs for 2019-20 fiscal. (source: dhakatribune.com)
 Position
• The economic freedom score is 55.6, making its economy the 121st freest in the 2019 Index (heritage.org).
• Bangladesh is among the 5 fastest growing economies in the world (according to World Bank) and to become
the 3rd fastest growing economy.
• Bangladesh ranked 41st largest economy in 2019 all over the world, up from 43rd position the previous year.
• GDP per capita Nominal Ranking 2019 –Bangladesh in 149th position. (source: statistictimes.com).

source: heritage.org
 Review of the National Budget for FY2019-20
• The budget for fiscal 2019-20 proposed by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is just the banal
continuation of the past.
• Agrani Bank Chairman Zaid Bakht believes strategic reasons led to the lack of details on taking the banking
sector out of trouble. “Not all things can be said in the budget,” he remarks.
• Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation or PKSF Chairman Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad agrees but hopes the
formation of a banking commission may ease the problem.
• In an immediate reaction to the budget, FBCCI chief Sheikh Fazle Fahim said: "This is a continuation of the
previous 10 budgets presented by the last two governments headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.“
• The 11th national budget in a row by the Awami League is titled “Bangladesh on a Pathway to Prosperity -
Time is Ours, Time for Bangladesh”. But it lacks specific instructions on treading the pathway to prosperity
in the next five years of the government. (sources: dhakatribune.com, thedailystar.net, bdnews24.com)