Bangladesh second fastest growing economy: IMF
Bangladesh is among the three fastest growing economies in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- in yet another thumping endorsement of the country's extraordinary growth momentum.
The economy will grow at 7.3 percent this year, which will be second highest in the world, as per the IMF report 'World Economic Outlook, April 2019: Growth Slowdown, Precarious Recovery' revealed on Tuesday.
Neighbouring India will also grow at the same pace as Bangladesh but Rwanda will grow the fastest at 7.8 percent.
The three countries would be the only ones in the world to log in more than 7 percent growth this year.
The IMF's projection comes on the heels of the World Bank's and the Asian Development Bank's.
The World Bank, which does not use calendar year in its projections like its counterpart IMF, said Bangladesh would be among the five fastest growing economies in the world this fiscal year with its 7.3 percent growth.
The Asian Development Bank tipped Bangladesh to log in the fastest economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region in fiscal 2019-20. This fiscal year, the economy will grow at 8 percent.
The two multilateral lenders' projections for this fiscal year, however, are lower than the prediction of the government: 8.13 percent.
The IMF projected that Bangladesh will see less inflationary pressure and an improvement in its external position this year.
Inflation will be 5.4 percent this year, which was 5.6 percent last year.
Current account deficit was rising in the last two consecutive years. The negative balance was 2.1 percent of GDP in 2017 and 2.8 percent in 2018. In 2019, the negative balance will narrow to 1.9 percent of the GDP, the IMF report said.
Among other South Asian economies, Bhutan will grow at 4.8 percent, the Maldives 6.3 percent, Nepal 6.5 percent, Sri Lanka 3.5 percent and Pakistan 2.9 percent this year.
The world economy will slow down to 3.3 percent from 3.6 percent last year thanks to a slump in the major economies of China, the US, Germany, Italy and Japan.
Rising trade tension between China and the US is another reason for the slow down in global economy.
