Capping its stellar performance in the social sector, Bangladesh has achieved another economic milestone.
The country once written off by US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger as a ‘basket case’ has crossed the $1000 mark in annual per capita income.
On Wednesday, Finance Minister AMA Muhith told mediapersons that Bangladesh’s annual per capita income has risen to $1044 in 2012-13 from $923 after the base year was altered.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics presented a projection on annual per capita income before the Minister’s announcement.
“Our social sector performance is getting better by the day and that is reflecting on the economy. That is why there is a rise in per capita income,” Muhith said.
The Finance Minister said the Awami league led government treats statistics as sacrosanct and has kept it ‘above politics’.
He said a new base year will be used to calculate Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – as has been done to work out the rate of inflation.
Instead of 1995-96 that has so far been used as the base year for these calculations, 2005-06 will be used as base year from now on.
Muhith said his government was aiming at a 7.2 percent GDP growth in the current fiscal – an ambitious but not unattainable target, he would imagine.
Sri Lanka with an annual per capita income of $2923 in 2012-13 tops the South Asian countries.
India’s per capita income of $1527 may be somewhat eroded by the fall in the value of the rupee vis-a-vis the dollar, much the same way as Pakistan’s annual per capita income that now stands at $1380.
India is the world’s fourth largest economy but ranks 94th in per capita income in the world.
Source: Bd news24
