The size of the economy, its growth
rate and per capita income have increased in Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics’
new estimates using 2005-06 as the base year. Under the new base year, fiscal
2012-13′s gross domestic product (GDP) in current prices stood at $153.58
billion, whereas it came to $134.17 billion using the existing 1995-96.
The new estimate also shows an increase
in fiscal 2012-13′s growth rate: the economy grew by 6.18 percent in constant
prices as opposed to 6.03 percent under the existing base year of 1995-96.
Per capita income, which stands at $923
in the existing base year, rose to $1,044 in the new estimate. In addition, the
new base year shows a reduced gap in savings and investment in the economy.
The estimates were presented yesterday
at a meeting attended by Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Planning Minister AK
Khandker Food Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, and Fisheries and Livestock
Minister Abdul Latif Biswas.
Economist Wahiduddin Mahmud, who heads
a technical committee for revision and rebasing of GDP calculation year, was
also present at the meeting held at the BBS headquarters.
“Usually, the GDP size increases under
the new base year because of the addition of new elements in the economy. So,
this change is nothing significant or unusual,” Muhith said after the meeting.
BBS said the calculation of GDP under
the new base year will help reflect a more accurate picture of the economy as
many new sectors have emerged since 1995-96. The statistical agency, which last
rebased in 2000, has got the nod of the technical committee and is now awaiting
the green light from the government to start computing GDP using the 2005-06
base year, a senior official of the agency said, seeking to remain unnamed.
Under the latest base year, 24 new
crops have been added to the basket of 100 to calculate the contribution of the
agricultural sector. The new additions include green banana, green papaya,
green coconut, soybean, cucumber, hog plum, red amaranth, bottle gourd, olive,
ripe palm, marigold, rose and tuberose.
The contributions of Bangladesh Forest
Industries Development Corporation and Bangladesh Fisheries Development
Corporation such as fish fry and dried fish have been included in the
agriculture sector in the new base year.
BBS says the inclusions will boost the
gross value addition (GVA) of agriculture by 9 percent. In the industrial
sector, gas refining activities by state-run Petrobangla and data of survey of
manufacturing industries (SMI) has been included in the new base year.
Private power plants along with Power
Grid Company of Bangladesh have been added to compute GVA of the power sector.
In construction sector, brick, wood and fixtures and fittings have been added
with the existing cement and rod in the new 2005-06 base year.
Overall, the GVA in the industrial
sector will increase 5 percent after the inclusion, according to BBS. The GDP
of services sector, too, is set to increase, by 16 percent, under the new base
year. BBS has included motor vehicles repairing, activities of Trading
Corporation of Bangladesh. The economic contributions of the private airlines,
clearing and forwarding and travel agents, internet service providers and cable
operators would also be accounted in the new base year.
Zaid Bakht, research director of
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), said the rise in per capita
income signifies an increase in purchasing capacity of people and the
improvement of their living conditions.
Per capita income has gone up, thanks
to the healthy flow of remittances sent home by Bangladeshi nationals working
abroad and the effective role of microcredit organisations and the slowing
population growth, Bakht told BBC Radio.
The new figure is the culmination of
the development and improvement on several indicators in the last several
years, not just a jump of a single year, he said. The economist said the rise
in per capita income manifests the real rise in the people’s purchasing power.
Calculating the per capita income, the
new base year of 2005-06 has taken into account many economic activities and
service sectors which were not reflected in the calculation in the old base
year of 1995-96, Bakht said.
(Blogger’s Notes: That Bangladesh per capita GDP of more than US$ 1,000
is probably Bangladeshi Government’s clever manipulation of economic data. According to IMF’s World-Economic-Outlook-Database Bangladesh per capita GDP for 2013 is only US$ 738.642
while Burma per capita GDP is 908.633 and that income differential is one of
the main reasons many landless Bengali-Muslims are still crossing the border
illegally into Burma in droves.)
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