Bangladesh averted virus-induced economic crisis: Hasina

Bangladesh has been largely successful in averting an economic crisis that arced around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“It was possible to retain economic stability during the pandemic through the government's special steps to counter the crisis,” Hasina said in parliament on Wednesday.

Her comments came as responses to questions from the Jatiya Party’s Rowshan Ara Mannan and Awami League’s Kazim Uddin.

According to a report from the UK-based Centre for Economics and Business Research, Bangladesh is on course to becoming the 25th largest economy in the world by 2035, thanks to the current pace of economic development.

As per the 2020 indicators, Bangladesh is the 41st largest economy in the world.

“Although the coronavirus has caused an economic downturn in many other countries, Bangladesh has remained largely unscathed,” she said.

In fiscal 2020, Bangladesh achieved the economic growth of 5.24 percent, while it was 8.15 percent in the previous year, which is the highest in the history of the country.

Bangladesh ranked 10th in the world in grain production and third in rice production, Hasina said.

“The government has taken up different programmes to create new opportunities to send workers abroad as they were either stranded here or lost their jobs to the pandemic,” Hasina said.

“Bangladesh is not free from the unforeseen negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. But we have dealt with the situation with caution since the start, due to which we have been comparatively successful in reducing the economic damage, cases of infections and the fatality rate.”