The International Monetary Fund on Friday said that it has a very favourable outlook for growth in Bangladesh.
“We continue to have a very favorable outlook for growth in Bangladesh at around 7 percent in fiscal year '17, driven by robust growth in private consumption and investment,” Ken Kang, Deputy Director, at the IMF Asia and Pacific Department, told reporters at a news conference here on the sidelines of the annual Spring Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
The current account deficit is projected to widen somewhat to 2 percent and inflation has picked up to close to 6 percent, he said responding to a query on Bangladesh.
“So looking ahead, the priority should be take advantage of the cyclical upswing to implement needed structural reforms, and in particular to address the weaknesses in the banking sector, the NPL situation with the public sector banks, but also the profitability of the private ones,” Kang said.
Priority should also be to put in place comprehensive tax reforms in order to generate the needed resources to enhance spending on health, education, and the infrastructure, Kang said.
Earlier this month, the World Bank projected 6.5 percent growth for Bangladesh for 2018 and 6.7 percent and 7 percent respectively for 2019 and 2012.
“Economic growth in Bangladesh remains strong with growing industrial production, remittances and investment. Growth is expected to moderate from 7.3 percent in 2017 to 6.5 percent in 2018,” it said.
“Inflation and budgetary pressures have been high and the trade deficit has expanded. Every month, the working age population increases by 170,000 people and Bangladesh must create 1.1 million jobs a year to maintain its employment rate,” the Bank said in its South Asia report.