Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem on economic loss for political unrest

Published in South Asian Media on Monday, 1 June 2015.

CPD questions claim of 6.5 per cent GDP growth in outgoing fiscal

Centre for Policy Dialogue said on Monday the 6.5 per cent growth in gross domestic product in the outgoing fiscal as claimed by the government was questionable.

CPD officials while releasing a review report on the economy in Dhaka said there was confusion about the assessment by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of the think-tank, said they assessed economic losses at 0.4 percentage point due to three-month long political unrest.

The World Bank assessed the losses to be around one percentage point.

Moazzem said they had no data about extraordinary growth in the first nine months of the fiscal which could offset the losses.

The programme, also attended by CPD distinguished fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya and executive director Mustafizur Rahman, stressed the need for transparency in BBS.