Description

The National Budget of Bangladesh for the fiscal year 2017-18 (FY18) has been published on June 1, 2017. The government has set GDP growth target at 7.4% for FY18; 20 bps higher than the 7.2% growth target of FY17. The total ADP size in the Budget FY18 is BDT 1,533.31 billion which is 38.5% higher than that of FY17 revised budget. A number of factors have contributed to achieve this growth. First of all, the political calmness prevailing throughout 2016 has bolstered overall economic activities in the country. As of March, 2017, private sector credit growth stood at 16.06% which exceeded the target. However, attaining 7.4% GDP growth trajectory in FY18 will be a tough task. The government has taken a range of steps in power, energy, and communication sectors along with development of ports and economic zones. The monetary and fiscal policies are also set to be accommodative of high growth.