Bangladesh’s economic expansion has decelerated significantly, with the final Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate for the Fiscal Year 2024-25 hitting a five-year low of 3.69 percent, according to the final calculation released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) on Thursday.
This figure marks a notable downturn and is the lowest growth rate the country has recorded in the last half-decade.
The final estimate for FY2024-25 is a sharp decline from the previous fiscal year, FY2023-24, during which the country’s GDP grew by 4.22 percent. The continuous slowdown in growth signals mounting economic pressures on the South Asian nation.
A Five-Year Analysis of Bangladesh’s GDP Growth
The 3.69% growth in the latest fiscal year (FY25) represents a stark shift from the country’s trajectory in the pre-pandemic and immediate post-pandemic years, underscoring the severity of the current economic challenges, including persistent high inflation, external sector vulnerabilities, and contractionary monetary policy measures.
A look at the GDP growth figures for the last five fiscal years, finalized or provisionally estimated by the BBS, highlights the volatile path of the economy:
Note: The growth figures for FY2020-21, FY2021-22, and FY2022-23 are based on final or provisional data released in previous years, which contextualise the reported figures for FY24 and FY25.
The Current Economic Headwinds
While the official data for the final quarter (Q4) of FY25 showed some signs of a marginal industrial rebound, the overall annual result was dragged down by weaker performance in the service and agriculture sectors throughout the year, as well as prolonged political uncertainty that deterred private investment.
The final growth figure of 3.69% will likely fuel concerns among policymakers, as it falls significantly short of the government’s initial target and is closer to the more conservative forecasts made by international institutions like the World Bank and the IMF.
The government will now face increasing pressure to introduce stronger economic reforms to stabilize the financial sector, manage the persistent liquidity and dollar crisis, and reignite the domestic demand necessary to push the growth rate back toward its historical average of over 6 percent.
