Shawdesh Desk:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has scaled up its projection for Bangladesh’s GDP growth to 6.6 percent in 2022, from its previous forecast of 6.5 percent in October.

The Washington-based multilateral lender came up with the projection at a press briefing held at InterContinental Dhaka hotel on Sunday.

“Despite being hit by multiple waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, quick and decisive actions by the authorities, supported by the external environment, led to a much quicker rebound than Bangladesh’s regional peers,” said Rahul Anand, division chief in the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department.

Growth is expected to pick up to 6.6 per cent in FY22, which may further increase to 7.1 per cent in FY23, the IMF said.

However, IMF warned that the uncertainty of this outlook “remains high” and “risks are tilted to the downside.”

The projection, however, is still lower than the government’s target of 7.2 per cent for fiscal year 2021-22.

The IMF staff team led by Anand arrived in Dhaka on December 5 and met high officials of the different government entities, including the finance ministry, the Bangladesh Bank and the National Board of Revenue.