Economy Overview
The economy has grown 5-6% over the past few years despite inefficient state-owned enterprises, delays in exploiting natural gas resources, insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms. Bangladesh remains a poor, overpopulated, and inefficiently-governed nation. Although more than 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. Garment exports and remittances from Bangladeshis working overseas, mainly in the Middle East and East Asia, fuel economic growth.
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
8.4% (2007 est.)
Electricity production
22.78 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity Consumption
21.37 billion kWh (2006 est.)
Electricity Exports
0 kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity Imports
0 kWh (2007 est.)
Unemployment Rate
2.5% (includes underemployment) (2007 est.)
Population Below Poverty Line
Household Income or Consumption by Percentage Share
Lowest 10%: 3.7%
Highest 10%: 27.9% (2000)
Distribution of Family Income Gini Index
33.4 (2000)
Budget
Revenues: $7.01 billion
Expenditures: $9.464 billion (2007 est.)
Public Debt
37.4% of GDP (2007 est.)
Central Bank Discount Rate
5% (31 December 2007)
Commercial Bank Prime Lending Rate
Stock of Domestic Credit
$40.15 billion (31 December 2007)
Market Value of Publicly Traded Shares
$3.61 billion (2006)
Reserves of Foreign Exchange and Gold
$5.278 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Debt External
$21.23 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment at Home
$4.971 billion (2007 est.)
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment Abroad
$104 million (2007 est.)
Exchange Rates
taka (BDT) per US dollar - 69.893 (2007), 69.031 (2006), 64.328 (2005), 59.513 (2004), 58.15 (2003)
