Short facts about the economy in Bangladesh

Economy - overview:

Despite sustained domestic and international efforts to improve economic and demographic prospects, Bangladesh remains one of the world's poorest, most densely populated, and least developed nations. 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. 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. Reform is stalled in many instances by political infighting and corruption at all levels of government. Even so, Prime Minister Sheikh HASINA's Awami League government has made some headway improving the climate for foreign investors and liberalizing the capital markets. Progress on other economic reforms has been halting because of opposition from the bureaucracy, public sector unions, and other vested interest groups.

GDP:	purchasing power parity - $203 billion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

5.3% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita:

purchasing power parity - $1,570 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture:  30% industry:  18% services:  52% (2000 est.)

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.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

5.8% (2000 est.)

Labor force:

64.1 million (1998) note:  extensive export of labor to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Malaysia; workers' remittances estimated at $1.71 billion in 1998-99

Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture 63%, services 26%, industry 11% (FY95/96)

Unemployment rate:

35.2% (1996)

Budget:

revenues:  $4.9 billion expenditures:  $6.8 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY99/00 est.)

Industries:

cotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, sugar

Industrial production growth rate:

6.1% (2000 est.)

Electricity - production:

12.06 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - production by source:

fossil fuel:  93.7% hydro:  6.3% nuclear:  0% other:  0% (1999)

Electricity - consumption:

11.216 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - exports:

0 kWh (1999)

Electricity - imports:

0 kWh (1999)

Agriculture - products:

rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry

Exports:

$5.9 billion (2000)

Exports - commodities:

garments, jute and jute goods, leather, frozen fish and seafood

Exports - partners:

US 31.2%, Germany 9.95%, UK 8.06%, France 5.82%, Italy 4.42% (1999)

Imports:

$8.1 billion (2000)

Imports - commodities:

machinery and equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, raw cotton, food, crude oil and petroleum products, cement

Imports - partners:

India 12.2%, Singapore 7.8%, Japan 6.7%, China 6.4%, US 5.3% (1999)

Debt - external:

$17 billion (2000)

Economic aid - recipient:

$1.575 billion (2000 est.)

Currency:

taka (BDT)

Currency code:

BDT

Exchange rates:

taka per US dollar - 54.000 (January 2001), 52.142 (2000), 49.085 (1999), 46.906 (1998), 43.892 (1997), 41.794 (1996)

Fiscal year:

1 July - 30 June

Source: World Factbook