Bangladesh Economy
Economy - overviewDespite sustained domestic and international efforts to improve economic and demographic prospects, Bangladesh remains a poor, overpopulated, and ill-governed nation. Although half of GDP is generated through the service sector, nearly two-thirds of Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector, with rice as the single-most-important product. Major impediments to growth include frequent cyclones and floods, inefficient state-owned enterprises, inadequate port facilities, a rapidly growing labor force that cannot be absorbed by agriculture, delays in exploiting energy resources (natural gas), insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms. Economic reform is stalled in many instances by political infighting and corruption at all levels of government. Progress also has been blocked by opposition from the bureaucracy, public sector unions, and other vested interest groups. The BNP government, led by Prime Minister Khaleda ZIA, has the parliamentary strength to push through needed reforms, but the party's political will to do so has been lacking in key areas. One encouraging note: growth has been a steady 5% for the past several years.
GDP
purchasing power parity - $258.8 billion (2003 est.)
GDP - real growth rate
5.3% (2003 est.)
GDP - per capita
purchasing power parity - $1,900 (2003 est.)
GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 21.7%
industry: 26.6%
services: 51.7% (2003 est.)
Investment
23.2% of GDP (2003)
Population below poverty line
35.6% (FY95/96 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 3.9%
highest 10%: 28.6% (1995-96 est.)
Distribution of family income - Gini index
33.6 (FY95/96)
Inflation rate
5.6% (2003 est.)
Labor force
64.02 million
note: extensive export of labor to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Malaysia; workers' remittances estimated at $1.71 billion in 1998-99 (2003)
Labor force - by occupation
agriculture 63%, industry 11%, services 26% (FY95/96)
Unemployment rate
40% (includes underemployment) (2002 est.)
Budget
revenues: $5.352 billion
expenditures: $7.55 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2003)
Public debt
43.3% of GDP (2003)
Agriculture - products
rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry
Industries
cotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, sugar
Industrial production growth rate
1.9% (2003 est.)
Electricity - production
15.33 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - consumption
14.25 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports
0 kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports
0 kWh (2001)
Oil - production
3,581 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption
71,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports
NA (2001)
Oil - imports
NA (2001)
Oil - proved reserves
28.45 million bbl (1 January 2002)
Natural gas - production
9.9 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - consumption
9.9 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves
150.3 billion cu m (1 January 2002)
Current account balance
$393 million (2003)
Exports
$6.713 billion (2003 est.)
Exports - commodities
garments, jute and jute goods, leather, frozen fish and seafood (2001)
Exports - partners
US 23.9%, Germany 13.6%, UK 9.7%, France 5.9% (2003)
Imports
$9.459 billion (2003 est.)
Imports - commodities
machinery and equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs, petroleum products, cement (2000)
Imports - partners
India 15.4%, China 11.3%, Singapore 10.8%, Japan 5.9%, Hong Kong 4.5% (2003)
Reserves of foreign exchange & gold
$2.624 billion (2003)
Debt - external
$18.06 billion (2003)
Currency
taka (BDT)
Currency code
BDT
Exchange rates
taka per US dollar - 58.15 (2003), 57.888 (2002), 55.8067 (2001), 52.1417 (2000), 49.0854 (1999)
