Economy - overview:
Despite 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.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $239 billion (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
4.4% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $1,700 (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 35%
industry: 19%
services: 46% (2001 est.)
Population below poverty line:
35.6% (FY95 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)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
3.1% (2002 est.)
Labor force:
64.1 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 (1999)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 63%, services 26%, industry 11% (FY95)
Unemployment rate:
40% (includes underemployment) (2002 est.)
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:
1.8% (2002 est.)
Electricity - production:
15.33 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 93.7%
hydro: 6.3%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption:
14.26 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 (January 2002 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
150.3 billion cu m (January 2002 est.)
Agriculture - products:
rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry
Exports:
$6.2 billion (2002)
Exports - commodities:
garments, jute and jute goods, leather, frozen fish and seafood (2001)
Exports - partners:
US 29.6%, Germany 10.3%, UK 8.5%, France 5.4%, Italy 4.6%, Netherlands (2001)
Imports:
$8.5 billion (2002)
Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs, petroleum products, cement (2000)
Imports - partners:
India 13.1%, Singapore 9.1%, China 8.5%, Japan 7.9%, Hong Kong 5.1% (2001)
Debt - external:
$16.5 billion (2002)
Economic aid - recipient:
$1.575 billion (2000 est.)
Currency:
taka (BDT)
Currency code:
BDT
Exchange rates:
taka per US dollar - 57.888 (2002), 55.8067 (2001), 52.1417 (2000), 49.0854 (1999), 46.9057 (1998)
Fiscal year:
1 July - 30 June
NOTE: The information regarding Bangladesh on this page is re-published from the 2003 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Guinea Geography 2003 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Bangladesh Economy 2003 should be addressed to the CIA.
