The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has upgraded Bangladesh’s growth estimate for fiscal 2018-19 to what would be the highest in the Asia Pacific region, in what can be viewed as a thumping endorsement for the economy’s tremendous momentum.
The Manila-based multilateral lender now estimates the Bangladesh economy grew by a record 8.1 percent in the just concluded fiscal year, up from its previous forecast of 8 percent.
“It is the highest in the Asia-Pacific,” said Manmohan Parkash, country director of ADB, at the closing ceremony of the two-day Good Project Implementation Forum. The ADB organised the event at Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in Dhaka.
Furthermore, the ADB predicts Bangladesh will log in the highest growth in the Asia-Pacific region in 2020 too. “Friends, I call Bangladesh a ‘Land of Opportunity’. This is because the country has made tremendous progress in a very short period. Despite a difficult global economic outlook, Bangladesh continues to progress at a high rate,” he added.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal was the chief guest at the event that was attended by 300 officials from project executing and implementing agencies of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
The forum, which was styled “Delivering Better Project Outcomes”, saw the participants share their experiences, best practices and lessons learned from implementation of various projects.
It is the first such initiative in Bangladesh to promote South-South cooperation. (The Daily Star)
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