The International Monetary Fund (IMF) further lowered Bangladesh’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast. The agency said that the country’s GDP growth in the current fiscal year 2023-24 could be 5.7 percent. This forecast has been given in the IMF’s World Economic Outlook on Tuesday.

With this, the IMF lowered the GDP growth forecast of Bangladesh for the third time for the current financial year. In a report of the organization last October, it is said that the GDP growth of Bangladesh in the current financial year may be 6 percent. Earlier, the IMF had forecast 6.5 percent growth for the same fiscal year.

The IMF report published today said that the GDP growth may slow down due to various domestic and international challenges. High rate of inflation is also mentioned among these factors. However, the IMF expects inflation to moderate this fiscal year. According to the report, the current fiscal year average inflation may be 7.9 percent. In the last financial year which was 9.7 percent.

Before the IMF, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have lowered their GDP growth forecasts for the current fiscal year. Both the agencies have cited almost similar reasons for lowering the GDP forecast. In addition to this, the World Bank has also mentioned that the gas-electricity shortage, the upward trend of interest rates in bank loans and the fragility of the financial sector have eroded the confidence of investors.

According to the World Bank’s ‘Bangladesh Development Update April-2024’ report published last month, Bangladesh’s GDP growth may drop to 5.6 percent in the current financial year. On the other hand, ADB’s Asian Development Outlook (ADO) April 2024 report, released on Monday, said that the GDP growth of Bangladesh in the current fiscal year may decrease slightly to 6.1 percent.