Bangladesh’s per capita income rises by $163

Bangladesh's per capita income has risen by $163 to $2,227 in the fiscal 2020-21.

The increase is 9% from the previous fiscal year when per capita income was $2,064.

Besides, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose to Tk30,87,300 crore during the period, Planning Minister MA Mannan said at the Cabinet meeting on Monday.

The GDP was Tk27,96,328 crore in FY20.

Minister Mannan was presenting his formal speech at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The prime minister joined the event virtually from Ganabhaban. Cabinet Secretary Anwarul Islam later briefed reporters during a press briefing at the Secretariat.

"It is pretty good news in these circumstances that the economy did not contract. But what is more important is how the growth has been distributed," said Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

Giving his instant observations on the official disclosure, he told The Business Standard that the average growth figure "does not reveal the highly uneven growth we had and uneven recovery we are going to have".

Dr Debapriya felt that policymakers need to move from growth-generating estimates to employment-generating ones.

"We would also love to know how the estimate has been derived as in the recent past we had problems in reconciling the growth figure with other correlates like private sector credit growth, investment and capital machinery imports," he added.