Bangladesh has advanced two notches on the world economic league table (WELT) to become the 34th largest economy among 192 nations across the globe.
The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), a UK-based think tank, also projected in its economic league table that Bangladesh would go up by another 14 notches to stand at 20th spot in 2037.
Bangladesh also fared well from a regional perspective as it maintained its position as the region’s second largest economy with a GDP size of USD 429 billion. The figure is expected to reach USD 1,628 billion by 2037.
The country was ranked at 36th in 2021, which the research firm projected to be 35th in 2023, 26th in 2027, 24th in 2032, and 20th in 2037.
In the WELT report released on Tuesday, the CEBR foresaw a recession in the forthcoming year. It warned that higher borrowing costs, which are intended to tackle inflation, will cause a number of economies to shrink. The world will stall in 2023 as policymakers continue their fight against soaring prices.
As the CEBR predicted in the previous year’s report, the global GDP rose above USD 100 trillion for the first time ever in 2022. It is projected to reach USD 207 trillion by the end of the think tank’s forecast horizon in 2037.
Labeling the country as a middle-income country, the CEBR said Bangladesh had an estimated PPP (purchasing power parity)-adjusted GDP per capita of USD 7,985 in 2022.
The report also noted that the country was not fully immune to the spillover effects of pandemic-inflicted economic losses, but its economy still managed to expand by 3.4 per cent in the fiscal year 2019-20. The research firm termed the expansion as a rare achievement compared to international standards.
GDP rose relatively strongly in the fiscal year 2021-22, but inflation ran hot, not least due to fallout of the conflict in Ukraine. The CEBR identified high inflation as a key downside risk for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh’s strong growth has been very much down to strong remittance flows and a robust export market. Downside risks to Bangladesh’s exports include diminishing trade as a result of a global economic downturn, along with higher input costs.
“We expect the annual rate of GDP growth to ease slightly to an average of 6.4 per cent between fiscal year 2022-23 and fiscal year 2026-27,” the CEBR said, adding the economy would expand by 6.5 per cent on average each year over the subsequent decade.
India maintained its position as the largest economy in South Asia. It is projected to become the third USD 10 trillion economy in 2035 and the world's third largest by 2032.
In South Asia, Pakistan turned out to be the 43rd largest economy of the globe while Sri Lanka was placed at 75th, Nepal at 101st, the Maldives at 152nd, and Bhutan at 164th positions.
The US, China, and Japan are respectively the top three economies in the world, and it is forecasted that China is not set to overtake the US as the world's largest economy until 2036.