Bangladesh's economy has grown at its highest rate in decades, driven by resurgent exports and a strong performance by the usually sluggish farm sector, officials said Tuesday. The economy expanded by 6.66 percent in the 12 months to June, the fastest pace since the early 1970s when it was boosted by recovery following Bangladesh's victory in its war of independence with Pakistan.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, which announces annual growth figures a month before the Bangladeshi financial year ends in June, also revised its figures for 2009-10 growth to 6.07 percent, up from a provisional estimate of 5.54 percent. "The 6.66 percent growth is the highest in recent decades," BBS chief Shahjahan Ali Molla told AFP.
An official at the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics said it was the fastest rate of growth for Bangladesh since 1973-74 when the economy grew by 9.59 percent. The growth was powered by the country's resurgent manufacturing sector and higher crop yields, the secretary of the government's general economic division Shamsul Alam told AFP.
"Manufacturing was driven by an impressive 42 percent export growth in garment products. Agriculture also shone because of record outputs of rice, wheat and some other crops - thanks to favourable weather," he said. The government had targeted 6.7 percent growth for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, which the central bank said was attainable.
The World Bank had projected a 6.3 percent growth rate. According to the statistics bureau, manufacturing expanded by 9.51 percent overall with major industries clocking 10.41 percent growth as garment shipments soared following a dramatic surge in orders diverted from an increasingly costly China.