| Economy - overview | Despite sustained domestic and international efforts to improve economic and demographic prospects, 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. 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. Opposition from the bureaucracy, public sector unions, and other vested interest groups also have blocked progress. 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. On an encouraging note, growth has been a steady 5-6% for the past several years. |
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| GDP | 1.5% (2006) |
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| GDP - real growth rate | 6.6% (2006 est.) |
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| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 19.9%
industry: 20.6%
services: 59.5% (2006 est.) |
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| Population below poverty line | 45% (2004 est.) |
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Household income or consumption
by percentage share | lowest 10%: 3.9%
highest 10%: 28.6% (1995-96 est.) |
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Distribution of family income
- Gini index | 31.8 (2000) |
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| Labor force | 68 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. (2006 est.) |
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| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 63%
industry: 11%
services: 26% (FY95/96) |
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| Unemployment rate | 2.5% (includes underemployment) (2006 est.) |
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| Budget | revenues: $6.389 billion
expenditures: $8.694 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.) |
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| Industries | cotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, sugar |
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| Industrial production growth rate | 7.2% (2006 est.) |
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Electricity -
production | 18.09 billion kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
production by source | fossil fuel: 93.7%
hydro: 6.3%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001) |
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Electricity -
consumption | 16.82 billion kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
exports | 0 kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
imports | 0 kWh (2004) |
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| Oil - production | 6,813 bbl/day (2004) |
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| Oil - consumption | 85,000 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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| Oil - exports | NA bbl/day |
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| Oil - imports | NA bbl/day |
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| Oil - proved reserves | 28.45 million bbl (1 January 2002) |
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| Agriculture - products | rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry |
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| Exports | $11.17 billion (2006 est.) |
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| Exports - commodities | garments, jute and jute goods, leather, frozen fish and seafood (2001) |
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| Exports - partners | US 23.6%, Germany 13.5%, UK 9.4%, France 6.4% (2005) |
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| Imports | $13.77 billion (2006 est.) |
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| Imports - commodities | machinery and equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs, petroleum products, cement |
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| Imports - partners | India 14.1%, China 13.5%, Kuwait 8.5%, Singapore 6.2%, Japan 4.1%, Hong Kong 4.1% (2005) |
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| Debt - external | $22.55 billion (2006 est.) |
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| Economic aid - recipient | $1.575 billion (2000 est.) |
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| Currency code | BDT |
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| Exchange rates | taka per US dollar - 69.031 (2006), 64.328 (2005), 59.513 (2004), 58.15 (2003), 57.888 (2002) |
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| Fiscal year | 1 July - 30 June |
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