At the global launch of UNCTAD’s LDCs Report 2014 subtitled “Growth with Structural Transformation: A Post-2015 Development Agenda” CPD shared the report highlights during a media briefing at the CIRDAP auditorium held on Thursday 27 November 2014.
View more news reports on the launch
Published in The Financial Express
BD needs 10 more years to get developing country status: CPD
Only one out of three criteria met so far
Despite progress in various socio-economic indicators, Bangladesh still needs about 10 more years to get the status of a developing country, said Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) distinguished fellow Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya.
Although Bangladesh aims at making an exit from LDC (least developed countries) Club in 2021, the CPD fellow indicated that it would take some more time as the country needs to concentrate more on some key areas of economic vulnerability and human assets index to achieve the status.
According to Dr Depapriya, the country needs to work more vigorously to reduce its economic vulnerability and enhance human assets along with lifting of per capita income to rise above the status of LDC.
“Although LDCs excelled in economic growth during the last decade, quality of livelihood did not significantly improve which, in turn, undermined progress towards achieving the MDG targets,” he said while addressing a press briefing on Thursday.
The CPD organised the press briefing at the city’s CIRDAP auditorium to launch the LDCs Report 2014 — Growth with Structural Transformation: A Post-2015 Development Agenda. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) prepared the report.
CPD Research Fellow Mr Towfiqul Islam Khan presented the report highlighting the state of economic development in LDCs, opportunities and challenges of these countries.
CPD Executive Director Mustafizur Rahman and Research Director Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem replied to queries from the press.
The list of LDCs is reviewed every three years by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, based on recommendations by the Committee for Development Policy.
A country will qualify for graduation from LDCs if it meets the graduation threshold of at least two of the three criteria – per capita income, human asset and economic vulnerability — during the period covered by at least two consecutive triennial reviews of the list.
Although Bangladesh reached the per capita income threshold, it still lags behind in terms of economic vulnerability as well as human assets. Quoting UNCTAD report on LDCs, Dr Debapriya said, Bangladesh needs to pursue economic and human development simultaneously to graduate from the status of LDC as well as meet the requirements of the post-2015 development agenda.
Since 1971, only four LDCs-Botswana, Cape Verde, the Maldives and Samoa-moved to the group of developing countries.
Equatorial Guinea and Vanuatu are scheduled to be taken out of the list of LDCs in June 2017 and December 2017 respectively.
According to UNCTAD report, the next review will take place in 2015 and potential candidates for graduation are Angola and Kiribati.
At present, 48 countries are designated as LDCs.
For smooth transition for graduating from the list of LDCs, the UNCTAD report suggested for putting more emphasis on generating income and employment, structural transformation through increased industrial productivity and good governance in order to reduce economic vulnerability that persistently holds back LDCs including Bangladesh from generating enough momentum to graduate.
The UNCTAD report also recommended LDCs to prioritise resource mobilisation for public and private investment, industrial and sectoral policies to channel resources into most productive sectors and activities and macroeconomic policies which foster economic development.
The LDC report also addressed the reasons for the LDC Paradox – the failure of most LDCs to meet most of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets despite record economic growth since 2000.
Explaining the LDCs’ drawbacks, Dr Debapriya said their economic vulnerability did not decrease despite better growth.
According to him, Bangladesh’s development among the LDCs is remarkable due to improved growth, remittance inflow, enhanced food security and resilience to environmental disaster etc. But the country lags behind in primary areas such as income and employment generation, diversification of existing exportable items, low per capita income due to large population etc.
As a result, Bangladesh cannot go beyond the low wage-low productivity-low income cycle, noted Dr Bhattacharya.
He, however, added that becoming a middle income country also does not mean graduating from the LDC group because it requires improving on social indicators which many LDCs failed to achieve despite generating high income and growth through exporting natural resources and tourism promotion.
Executive Director Mustafizur Rahman also underscored that Bangladesh cannot meet the post-2015 goals without addressing human and economic development altogether because development in the 21st century is not linear, there are qualitative changes in the age of globalisation.
Published in Dhaka Tribune
Bangladesh needs 10 more years beyond 2021 to become middle-income country
Tribune Report
UNCTAD report frustrates vision as the country lags behind economic vulnerability and human assets index
Bangladesh would have to wait 10 more years than expected to graduate from the league of least developed countries (LDCs), as the country still lags behind economic vulnerability and human assets index despite faring well in some socio-economic indicators.
The latest developments indicated Bangladesh to fail exiting from LDCs club by 2021 as predicted earlier.
The observation emerged with the release of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s Least Developed Countries Report 2014 at the CIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka yesterday.
Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) arranged a press conference to launch the report subtitled “Growth with Structural Transformation: A Post-2015 Development Agenda.”
Since 1971, only four LDCs – Botswana, Cape Verde, the Maldives and Samoa – advanced to the group of developing countries, with Equatorial Guinea and Vanuatu expected to join them in June and December respectively in 2017, and the potential candidates are Angola and Kiribati.
Bangladesh got its LDC membership in 1973 and for the last three decades it has been enjoying all the benefits of the group. The number of LDC countries is now 48.
“Despite good progress in some socio-economic indicators, Bangladesh still needs to wait 10 years more to get out of LDCs status,” CPD distinguished fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya told the press conference.
He said the country needs to work more vigorously in reducing the risk of economic vulnerability and enhance human assets along with lifting per capita income to rise above the status of a LDC.
“The LDCs excelled in economic growth during the last decades, quality of livelihood did not significantly improve which, in turn, undermined progress towards achieving the MDG targets,” he said.
To graduate, Bangladesh needs to have per capita income of $1,242 in 2015. Recently, the government put the per capita income figure at $1,044.
The country scored 32.4 points in the Economic Vulnerability Index. LDCs which plan to graduate from the group must bring down their scores below 32. As for the Human Assets Index, the country will have to add over 11 more points to its current score of 54.7, according to the report.
The list of LDCs is reviewed every three years by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, based on recommendations by the committee for development policy.
A country will qualify for graduation from LDCs if it has met the graduation threshold of at least two of the three criteria – per capita income, human asset and economic vulnerability – during the period covered by at least two consecutive triennial reviews of the list.
Explaining the LDCs’ drawbacks, Bhattacharya said Bangladesh’s development amongst the LDCs is remarkable due to improved growth, remittance influx, enhanced food security and resilience to environmental disaster etc.
“But the country lags behind in primary areas such as income and employment generation, diversification of existing exportable items, low per capita income due to large population etc.”
He said, as a result, Bangladesh cannot go beyond the wage-low productivity-low income cycle.
Becoming a middle income country also does not mean graduating from the LDCs group because it requires improving on social indicators, which many LDCs failed to achieve despite generating high income and growth through exporting natural resources and tourism promotion, said the CPD distinguished fellow.
In this context, CPD Executive Director Professor Mustafizur Rahman said Bangladesh cannot meet the post-2015 goals without addressing human and economic development altogether because development in the 21st century is not linear, there are qualitative changes in the age of globalisation.
CPD Research Fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan presented the report.
For smooth transition for graduating from the list of LDCs, the UNCTAD report recommended for putting more emphasis in generating income and employment, structural transformation through increased industrial productivity and good governance in order to reduce economic vulnerability that persistently hold back LDCs including Bangladesh from generating enough momentum to graduate.
It also recommended LDCs to prioritise resource mobilisation for public and private investment, industrial and sectoral policies to channel resources into most productive sectors and activities and macroeconomic policies which foster economic growth.
The LDC report found the reasons for the LDC Paradox and said failures to graduate from LDCs partly reflected an external problem that is limited progress on MDG 8 (a global partnership for development), falling far short of development partners’ aid commitments and serious erosion of LDCs’ trade preferences relative to other developing countries.
Published in The Daily Star
LDCs must focus on higher productivity
UN report suggests
Star Business Report
Least-developed countries like Bangladesh will have to focus on structural transformation and human development to achieve the sustainable development goals in the post-2015 period, said an UN report.
The countries need to go beyond economic growth to complete a virtuous circle of sustainable economic and human development, said the Least Developed Countries Report 2014 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development or UNCTAD.
This requires structural transformation, combining increases in labour productivity within sectors, and a shift of labour from low-productivity sectors to high-productivity sectors, Towfiqul Islam Khan, research fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said at the unveiling of the report yesterday.
Structural transformation is needed to enhance labour productivity. The more labour moves into industry, the faster the overall productivity increases, he said.
To assist the LDCs’ progress towards the sustainable development goals, UNCTAD proposes a post-2015 development agenda for the LDCs, comprising both domestic and international policy measures.
Domestically, LDCs should focus especially on resource mobilisation, active industrial and prudent macroeconomic policies, the report said.
Resource mobilisation requires a strategic and selective approach to domestic investment and foreign direct investment.
Industrial policy should follow a dual track, developing sectors of current comparative advantage and at the same time anticipating and promoting changes in comparative advantage.
The garment sector, which accounts for 80 percent of Bangladesh’s exports, has so far been the key focus of the industrial policy.
But the policy should also pay attention to other potential sectors such as plastic, leather, shipbuilding, said Khan.
Macroeconomic policies should support resource mobilisation and industrial policies by ensuring credit for productive investment and strong and steady demand growth.
As international measures, the report stressed donors’ fulfilment of their long-standing commitments on the quantity and the terms of aid to LDCs.
Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of CPD, said Bangladesh should focus on diversification of economy and development of human capital as a strategy to come out from the LDC list.
“It is an urgent need to focus on active and promising sectors for diversification of economy,” he said, adding that the country now has some thrust sectors which are in want of coordination between policy and goal.
He went on to stress improvements in labour productivity, as it will generate more decent jobs in the country.
More than 54 percent of the country’s total jobs still come from the agriculture sector, although the contribution of the manufacturing sector as a percentage of GDP is increasing, he said.
The report also said the international community must learn from the failure of most of the poorest countries to meet the Millennium Development Goals despite registering strong economic growth, a phenomenon the report dubs the “LDC paradox”.
The report — subtitled ‘Growth with Structural Transformation: A Post-2015 Development Agenda’ — said the LDCs are the battleground on which the post-2015 development agenda will be won or lost.
The LDC paradox arises from the failure of LDC economies to achieve structural changes despite having grown vigorously as a result of strong export prices and rising aid flows.
Some other developing countries — not categorised as ‘least developed’ — especially those that mostly depend on commodities for production, employment and exports have also faced a similar paradox.
Yet from 2002 to 2008, LDC growth exceeded the 7 percent target agreed by the international community, and even after the 2008 financial crisis they grew faster than other developing countries, at an average of 5.7 percent per year.
Only one LDC — the Lao People’s Democratic Republic — in South and Southeast Asia is on track to achieve all seven of the MDG targets analysed in the report and only four from the rest of the world.
Under the MDGs, global poverty was halved by rapid progress in the more advanced developing countries, the report says.
But a central goal of the post-2015 development agenda is expected to be the eradication of poverty by 2030.
This means reducing it to zero everywhere — and it is in the LDCs that this will be the most challenging. Their performance will largely determine the success or failure of the whole post-2015 development agenda.
Eradicating poverty in 15 years is a much more ambitious goal than the MDG target of halving it in 25 years, the report said. Even China has not achieved this, despite extraordinary economic growth and development for twice as long.
Moreover, prospects for export prices are now much more uncertain following the financial crisis, while aid to LDCs has stopped increasing as donor countries implement austerity policies.
As per the UN, 48 countries can now be termed LDCs; in 1971, the number was 25. Equatorial Guinea and Vanuatu are scheduled to be taken out of the bracket in June 2017 and December 2017 respectively.
Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of CPD, and Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of CPD, also spoke.
Published in The Daily Star Business
At least 10 years needed to move out of LDC list: economist
Star Business Report
Bangladesh will need at least ten years to move out of the list of least-developed countries as none of the criteria was met to come out of the list, Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said yesterday.
Bangladesh is not a potential candidate for an uplift in a UN review next year that will decide which country will shake off the LDC status, he said.
Even if Bangladesh fulfils all the criteria in — per capita income, economic vulnerability, and human assets — before another review in 2018, the country will still have to remain under observation for up to six years.
Bhattacharya spoke at the launch of the LDC Report 2014 prepared by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, at Cirdap auditorium in the city.
Bangladesh is yet to reach the threshold in per capita yearly income which should be raised to $1,242 by next year to become a developed country.
The country also could not achieve the required score in the economic vulnerability index, which is now 32.4 points. It will have to be brought down to 32 points.
Bangladesh is also behind the threshold in the human asset index that reflects health and educational status. A country will have to achieve 66 points in the human asset index criterion, whereas Bangladesh has 54.7 points.
Bhattacharya, however, said Bangladesh can achieve the status of a middle income country anytime due to higher national income arising mainly from remittances.
Published in New Age
Graduation from LDC status not possible by 2021: CPD
Staff Correspondent
The Centre for Policy Dialogue on Thursday said that Bangladesh would need at least another decade for graduating from the least developed countries’ category to a developing country as it lagged behind in human assets index and economic vulnerability index.
‘It will take at least a decade for graduation even if we become highly ambitious,’ CPD distinguished fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya said at a press briefing in Dhaka organised on the occasion of global launching of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development LDC Report-2014.
Bangladesh is not considered for graduation from LDC in next review of UN to be held in 2015 and it is also uncertain if it will be considered in next review to be held in 2018 because of its current performance, he said.
UN takes 6 years in two phases to observe the development of a LDC for graduation purpose, he said.
The government, however, has already made commitment to graduate from LDC by 2021.
According to UN review in 2012, which is the essence of the UNCTAD LDC Report-2014, Bangladesh’s economic vulnerability remained higher than the UN threshold.
Bangladesh scored 32.4 in economic vulnerable index although UN threshold is 32.
On the other hand, Bangladesh scored only 54.7 in human asset index although the UN threshold is 66. In this case Bangladesh needs to score higher.
Bangladesh, however, remains in a better position in per capita income index, he said.
Bangladesh’s current per capita income is US$ 1,190, equal to UN threshold set in 2012 for graduation, but the threshold is reset after every three years.
According to UN, a country needs to meet at least two criteria out of three.
Debapriya said that Bangladesh should concentrate on graduation from LDCs through achieving HAI and EVI indexes as it will ensure sustainable economic development in the country instead of emphasizing to become middle income country.
‘It seems that many are expressing satisfaction over the possibility of becoming a middle income country soon but becoming MIC does not mean that a country has graduated from LDCs,’ he said, adding that without structural transformation, MIC status will not ensure sustainable economic development.
UNCTAD in its report said that LDCs’ economy remained stuck in a vicious circle in which higher economic growth could not improve human development and living standards of people in 48 LDCs.
Debapriya said that there were also some signs including failure in bringing structural transformation, lack of quality jobs creation, low productivity of labour, dependence on one single sector in export earnings indicating that economic vicious circle was also visible in Bangladesh economy though it achieved significant achievements in millennium development goals.
The country achieved many indicators of MDGs but it failed to generate quality jobs which were important for increasing per capita income and poverty reduction despite its economy grew on an average 6 per cent in last few years, he said.
Bangladesh also failed to transform its economy through increasing the role of industry and services sectors in generating employment, increasing productivity and GDP growth, he said, adding that its economy is still dependent on agriculture.
He said that most portion of employment was generated in low productive informal sectors in these years in Bangladesh.
Agriculture sector generates employment for 54.4 per cent of the population while it contributes only 17.2 per cent of GDP. On the other hand, manufacturing sector generates only 13.7 per cent employment and contributes 18.5 per cent of GDP, according to UNCTAD report.
To reverse the vicious circle, the post-2015 development agenda should pursue economic development with structural transformation and human development together, it said.
UNCTAD suggested the LDCs to mobilize resources for public and private investment including attracting foreign direct investment and adopt active industrial policies emphasizing on potential areas along with existing successful sectors.
Developed countries should also fulfill their commitments to give a certain portion of their gross national income to LDCs to help them in graduation, it said.
At the briefing, CPD research fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan presented the UNCTAD report while CPD executive director Mustafizur Rahman spoke.
Published in The Independent
Mid-income country status by 2015 not possible, says CPD
Staff Reporter
Bangladesh will not be able to fulfil the criteria of becoming a middle income country by 2015, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said yesterday.
“Bangladesh needs at least 10 years to move into the mid-income country category from that of least developed countries (LDCs),” said CPD distinguished fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya. He was addressing a media briefing on United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Report on LDCs, 2014. According to the new criteria for acquiring mid-income country status, the criterion of per capita income threshold will be USD 1,242 for graduation in 2015, an Evaluation of Vulnerability Index (EVI) threshold of 32, and a Human Asset Index (HAI) threshold of 66. Bangladesh has achieved per capita income of USD 1,190, EVI of 32.4, and HAI of 54.7.
CPD research fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan made a PowerPoint presentation on the report, while CPD executive director Prof. Mustafizur Rahman and other officials of the think-tank were present at the programme.
Dr Bhattacharya said the LDCs have improved significantly in recent years, among which the LDCs of the Asia-Pacific region, including Bangladesh, are impressively moving forward towards fulfilling the criteria. In the last fiscal year, the LDCs in the Asia-Pacific region achieved remarkable GDP growth, compared to other regions, he pointed out, adding: “It is really a positive change in the economy.”
He, however, conceded that Bangladesh would need 10 more years before it moves into mid-income country status.
In reply to a question, CPD’s distinguished fellow said though Bangladesh will be denied some benefits it gets as a member of the LDC club, in the long run it will be good for Bangladesh. In terms of income, Bangladesh has advanced slightly, but is lagging behind in employment and income generation, he said.
Dr Bhattacharya said Bangladesh has three weak points while making economic progress – a lack of diversity of export products, which depend on readymade garments (RMG), the absence of a multipurpose economic system, and lack of specialisation of the economy. He also alleged that the policymakers are much more dedicated towards the goal of moving the country to mid-income status rather than formulating a dynamic industrial policy and ensuring macroeconomic stability.
Dr Mustafizur Rahman said the target of sustainable development would not be achieved without changing the framework of development. A major shift in policies, aimed at upgrading and diversifying the economic structure of LDCs into more sophisticated and higher value-added products, is being proposed by UNCTAD in its publication, the report said.
This would require innovation, upgaradation of skills and massive transfer of resources towards more sophisticated products and activities. Such policy changes are especially important for those LDCs that are overly dependent on the extractive sector.
Subtitled ‘Growth with Structural Transformation: A Post-2015 Development Agenda’, the report observed that policy proposals must go beyond those aimed at large-scale urban manufacturing to embrace measures for agricultural upgradation and rural economic diversification.
The LDCs comprise a group of 48 nations, most in sub-Saharan Africa, which have been recognised by the United Nations as requiring transformative economic change in order to lift their peoples from poverty.
Economic growth in the LDCs during the past two decades was associated with changes in the composition of their production and exports, the report says. Economies of LDCs that were able to diversify their production into higher value-added manufacturing activities grew at consistently higher rates than countries that remained heavily dependent on natural resources.
Exporters of manufactured goods, mostly in Asia, such as Bangladesh and Cambodia, experienced rapid changes in the composition of their productive structures, with a decline of 16 percentage points in the agricultural sector’s share of employment.
This transformation was bolstered by a significant increase in labour productivity in agriculture, which was above 2 per cent per year, and it made a progressive shift of the workforce towards industry and services possible. Labour productivity in industry, in turn, reinforced this dynamic, displaying an average growth rate of over 4 per cent between 1991 and 2012.
Published in The Daily Observer
He said Bangladesh has to generate employment in institutional sectors rather uninstitutional services. BSS
Published in Daily Sun
Bangladesh needs a decade to graduate from LDC status: CPD
Monirul Alam
Bangladesh will need a decade to graduate out of the LDC category subject to a rise in per capita income, continuation of GDP growth and human resource development, private think-tank Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said on Thursday.
It also said lifting the nation to middle-income status doesn’t mean graduating from the least developed country (LDC) category.
“What we will need to lift the country to a middle-income category is raising income. But, graduating out of LDC will require improvement in all economic indicators,” said Debapriya Bhattahcarya, the distinguish fellow of the renowned private think tank, at a media briefing held at CIRDAP auditorium Thursday.
According to CPD projection, the country will need to raise real income from $900 to $1200 per capita. Though the state-run Bureau of Statistics recently reported a significant rise in per capita to $1190 from $1050 a couple of years ago, many quarters including the CPD feel that the bureau’s data is not credible enough.
Debapriya said, “Some of us seem to be satisfied with the impression that the country is going to join the middle-income nations’ club soon. But, it will not be possible without uninterrupted economic growth with a rise in income and productivity and creation of huge employment.”
The country, during the last decade, obtained above 6.0 GDP growths in average year-on-year. The target of the government is to lift the country to middle-income category by 2021.
To attain the target, the government has raised the annual public expenditure and putting efforts in places to raise private investment also.
The CPD organised the briefing for journalist to disseminate the UNCTAD LDC Report 2014, which launched globally on the same day. The CPD unveiled the report in Bangladesh as the local partner of UNCTAD.
CPD Research Fellow Toufiqul Islam Khan presented the report at the media briefing. CPD Executive Director Dr Mustafizur Rahman and Additional Research Director Khandker Golum Moazzem spoke, among others at the function.
Published in The New Nation
Increasing per capita income alone can’t solve problems: CPD
UNB, Dhaka :The Centre for Policy Dialogue has issued a renewed call for Bangladesh to address long-term structural issues that continue to afflict its economy, instead of concentrating all its efforts towards attaining middle-income status based on per capita income.
“If Bangladesh concentrates on turning into a middle-income country, increasing per capita income but not changing its economic structures, our problems will remain,” said CPD distinguished fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya on Thursday, while addressing a press briefing to launch the Least Development Countries Report 2014, at the Cirdap auditorium.
Since 2006, CPD has been organising the local launch of the LDC reports prepared by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, or UNCTAD.
Rather than pinning all its hopes on the GDP per capita figure, Debapriya said Bangladesh would be better served in its aim to graduate out of the LDC club by focusing on two non-traditional criteria – the development of human assets index, and the removing economic vulnerability index.
It will be difficult for Bangladesh to ditch its LDC status by increasing per capita income due to its large population, the eminent economist said.
He also aired his doubts over Bangladesh’s realistic chances of attaining middle-income status by 2021 – a stated aim of the government. “If we’re ambitious, another 10 years is needed for this.
“The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (Ecosoc) reviews the list of LDCs every three years on the basis of three criteria-per capita income, human assets and economic vulnerability. A country will normally qualify for graduation from LDC status if it has met the graduation thresholds of at least two out of the three criteria. The next official review will take place in 2015. Dr Bhattacharya said though Bangladesh has increased per capita income significantly, and performed well in terms of GDP growth, remittance, food security and disaster management, the country still faces three major problems.
The first problem stems from the low proportion of employment in the manufacturing sector – just 14 percent (compared to 54 percent in agriculture). The statistics indicate the skill-level and competence of the workforce is very low.
Then comes the country’s disproportionate dependence on one industry – textiles or RMG – for its export earnings that leads to further economic vulnerabilities.
Finally there is the persistently low level of investment in the economy, that leads on to low wages and incomes.
Presenting the LDC Report 2014 subtitled ‘Growth with Structural Transformation: A Post-2015 Development Agenda’, CPD research fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan said the per capita income of Bangladesh is now $1190, against $1242 required for graduation from LDC status.
In economic vulnerability Index (EVI), the position of Bangladesh was 32.4 in 2012, but maximum 32 point is needed to meet the graduation threshold, he added.
In Human Assets Index, the value of Bangladesh stood at 54.7 in 2012, but minimum 66 is needed for graduation threshold, he noted.
The report said LDCs faced a challenged external environmental in 2013 with slow and uneven recovery of the global economy. Yet they were able to achieve an average real GDP growth rate of 5.6 percent in 2013 -higher than the 4.6 percent of other developing countries – (ODCs). Bangladesh’s GDP growth was 5.8 percent in the year.