The economy faces multidimensional challenges as the volatile global scenario threatens to create an adverse situation for the growth momentum of Bangladesh, the central bank warned yesterday. 

There are signs that Bangladesh’s stellar growth, which catapulted it among the 10 fastest growing economies over the past decade, may be losing steam soon unless critical reforms are undertaken to counter the decline, said a recent World Bank study.

Bangladesh’s trade deficit widened by 46.4 per cent year-on-year to $1.98 billion in July, but it was far below than the monthly average recorded in the last fiscal year, an encouraging sign for the economy.  

Recessions don’t happen overnight, and people don’t stop spending from one day to the next.

The price of chicken eggs has risen substantially over the past week, piling even more pressure on general consumers who are already facing tough times due to the growing cost of living in Bangladesh.

On Wednesday evening, Munaf Khan was sitting idle at his cash box in the clothing shop in the New Market area amid the emphatic sound of generators after the electricity went off since there were no customers. 

The wage growth in Bangladesh declined to a seven-year low of 6.06 per cent in the last fiscal year, highlighting the struggle low-paid workers are facing owing to the higher cost of living, official figures showed.    

Real estate companies in Bangladesh are cautiously taking up new projects as the war in Ukraine, the strain on foreign currency reserves, the dollar shortage, runaway inflation and higher construction costs have cemented worries that sales of flats might slow in the coming months.

The International Monetary Fund is expecting a formal request for a loan from Bangladesh soon to provide a buffer to the delicate foreign currency reserves amid global economic volatility even though the government remains in two minds about it.

Inflation surged to an eight-year high of 7.42 per cent in May, driven by a hike in food costs, underscoring the plight a majority of the population in Bangladesh is currently experiencing, official figures showed yesterday.  

The world has entered another era of high inflation, and no country can escape from the heat wave of rising prices.

Macroeconomic stability has been a hallmark of Bangladesh’s development strategy. This has served the country well, especially in terms of providing a solid enabling environment for the private sector.

The current global political, economic and trade situations are not favourable for a developing country like Bangladesh.

Annual GDP refers to the financial value of all the products and services produced in a country in a given year. This means as a country’s financial transactions increase, so does GDP.

Exchange rate management is an important task for the central bank. In Bangladesh, though the central bank follows a floating exchange rate, it manages the foreign exchange market through intervention.