Bangladesh Economy 2008

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.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$209.2 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):
$75.17 billion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
6% (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):
$1,400 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 19%
industry: 28.7%
services: 52.3% (2007 est.)

Labor force:
69.4 million
note: extensive export of labor to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Malaysia; workers' remittances estimated at $4.8 billion in 2005-06. (2007 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 63%
industry: 11%
services: 26% (FY95/96)

Unemployment rate:
2.5% (includes underemployment) (2007 est.)

Population below poverty line:
45% (2004 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.7%
highest 10%: 27.9% (2000 est.)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
33.4 (2000)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
8.8% (2007 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
26% of GDP (2007 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $7.078 billion
expenditures: $9.642 billion (2007 est.)

Public debt:
37.9% of GDP (2007 est.)

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:
9.5% (2007 est.)

Electricity - production:
21.35 billion kWh (2005)

Electricity - consumption:
19.49 billion kWh (2005)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2005)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2005)

Oil - production:
6,746 bbl/day (2005)

Oil - consumption:
86,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - exports:
1,100 bbl/day (2004)

Oil - imports:
81,010 bbl/day (2004)

Oil - proved reserves:
28 million bbl (1 January 2006 est.)

natural gas - production:
13.43 billion cu m (2005 est.)

natural gas - consumption:
13.43 billion cu m (2005 est.)

natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2005 est.)

natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2005)

natural gas - proved reserves:
135.8 billion cu m (1 January 2006 est.)

Current account balance:
$683 million (2007 est.)

Exports:
$11.25 billion (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities:
garments, jute and jute goods, leather, frozen fish and seafood (2001)

Exports - partners:
US 25%, Germany 12.6%, UK 9.8%, France 4.9% (2006)

Imports:
$14.91 billion (2007 est.)

Imports - partners:
China 17.7%, India 12.5%, Kuwait 7.9%, Singapore 5.5%, Hong Kong 4.1% (2006)

Economic aid - recipient:
$1.321 billion (2005)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$5.293 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt - external:
$20.25 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$4.208 billion (2006 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$105 million (2006 est.)

Market value of publicly traded shares:
$3.61 billion (2006)

Currency (code):
taka (BDT)

Exchange rates:
taka per US dollar - 69.893 (2007), 69.031 (2006), 64.328 (2005), 59.513 (2004), 58.15 (2003)