8.5pc GDP growth set for fiscal 2020-21 on hopes of V-shaped recovery
The government is gunning for an 8.5 % GDP growth next fiscal year in the hope the economy would be springing back to an increased expansion trajectory once the coronavirus outbreak has been quelled.
The federal government is expecting a V-shaped recovery in fiscal 2020-21 after its hopes of pulling off an 8.2 % gross domestic product output this fiscal year were shattered due to the pandemic, said the official of the finance ministry.
A V-shaped recovery involves a sharp decline in economic output accompanied by a sharp rise back to its previous peak.
The International Monetary Fund also projected a V-shaped recovery for Bangladesh, saying the GDP growth will be 2 per cent this year, the cheapest since 1988, before recording its highest-ever expansion of 9.5 per cent in 2021.
The brand new growth target was disclosed to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday in a meeting with a finance ministry team led by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal at the premier's official residence.
Another budget and the implementation of various stimulus packages announced by the government to pull the economy out of your wreckage thanks to the public health crisis were also discussed at the meeting.
An 8.5 % GDP growth target is at the sight of the economy as the stunning collapse this fiscal year had not been for any fundamental reason but a public health emergency, the official said.
"So, once the crisis has ended, the economy will charge ahead completely steam as in the past," he added.
Bangladesh clocked the best economic growth in Asia in 2019.
Both government and the central bank have up to now declared 18 stimulus packages worth Tk 95,619 crore to tackle the financial fallout from the pandemic. The packages are equivalent to 3.5 % of the country's GDP.
