Asian Development Bank (ADB) has projected Bangladesh’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth to be 6.5 percent in the fiscal year 2024, compared to an estimated growth of 6 percent in fiscal 2023. 

The projection was made in the latest ADB report, ‘Asian Development Outlook (ADO) September 2023,’ released on Wednesday.

The slightly faster growth forecast reflects an improvement in domestic demand and better export growth due to economic recovery in the euro area, ADB said in a press release. 

ADB also predicted that  Inflation in Bangladesh will ease from 9.0% in FY2023 to 6.6% in FY2024. However, food inflation for the month of August 2023 was 12.54 per cent which is 12 years high according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

ADB also expects that the current account deficit will slightly narrow from 0.7% of GDP in FY2023 to 0.5% of GDP in FY2024 as remittance growth improves.

The main risk to this growth projection is a further deterioration in export growth if global demand is weaker than expected, said ADB.