By Sorwar Alam

ANKARA (AA) – Bangladesh’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) has reached a record high growth of 7.2 percent in the 2016-17 fiscal year, according to the country’s statistics bureau on Sunday.

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data showed per capita income increasing to $1,602 from $1,466 of the previous financial year, according to Bangladeshi media, Daily Star.

The economic development in the South Asian nation reached the historic high through buoyant exports and robust agricultural outputs, the report said.

The GDP growth for the previous fiscal year, which begins in June 2015 and ends 2016, was 7.02 percent.

Meanwhile, the World Bank on Sunday said Bangladesh continued to make progress despite economic turmoil across the world.

“Bangladesh economy remains stable in the face of global uncertainties and continues to reduce poverty,” the bank said in a statement.

“The economy has done well along with declining poverty rates, but Bangladesh can do even better,” it added.

It predicted that Bangladesh’s “growth outlook in the near to medium-term is robust.

“The economy is likely to grow between 6.4 percent and 6.8 percent in 2017 and 2018,” the world bank statement said.

Major indicators that matter in GDP calculation are: consumer spending, investment by businesses, government spending, remittance, exports and imports.

The WB said it had some valid reasons to set the GDP growth at 6.8 percent.

Bangladesh’s export growth came down to only 3.9 percent in the first 10 months of the current fiscal from 9.2 percent for the same period a year ago.

Remittance, considered a strong lifeline for the country’s economy for the last several years, went down 16 percent between July and April this fiscal year. This sharp fall in inflow of remittance means a drop in domestic consumption.

Import growth of industrial raw materials was only 2 percent between July and February this fiscal year, down from 4.2 percent during the same period a year ago.

According to the WB, private sector investment would increase slightly this year from last year’s 22.1 percent of the GDP. It has remained almost stagnant around 22 percent over the last five years.

However, government spending, a major component of the GDP, has been growing steadily over the last few years.

Additional news from the Bangladesh newspaper, the Daily Star

[Bangladesh map By Habiburrahman/Creative Commons]