New base year ups FY'13 GDP size by $18 billion :: Financial Express :: Financial Newspaper of Bangladesh
New base year ups FY'13 GDP size by $18 billion
Published : Wednesday, 04 September 2013
Jasim Uddin Haroon
The size of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) has gone up by more than $18 billion in the last fiscal (2012-13) to US$151 billion in nominal terms under the new baseline of the fiscal year (FY) 2005-06.
The figure represents a 13 per cent increase in size of the GDP of the last fiscal over that of the same year, measured according to the old baseline of 1995-96, officials at the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) told the FE Tuesday.
An inter-ministerial meeting will be held at the Bangladesh Parishankan Bhavan today (Wednesday) at 11 in the morning to approve the new size of the GDP estimated on the basis of the new base year.
Country's nominal GDP, or GDP at current prices, now stands at $133 billion under the old base year.
The BBS officials also said the size of the country's real GDP will be larger by at least 60 per cent under the new baseline.
The changes in size of the real GDP will be mainly due to the price changes between the two periods.
BBS officials said the new base year will give a more accurate picture of the economy's structure.
Earlier, a technical committee led by Professor Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud approved the Bureau's programme of making a new base year in July last.
The committee had approved the new base year of 2005-06 instead of 1995-96 with the revision of product and services basket.
Sources said it will also announce final GDP growth rate and size of 2011-12 fiscal year under the new base year.
The Ministry of Planning had earlier approved the new base period and GDP measurement.
Bangladesh's per capita income will go up in line with the increase in the size of the GDP.
It needs $1,006 per capita income to pull the country up to the middle-income group.
The technical committee sat on the issue with the Planning Minister AK Khandker on Thursday last at the Parishankan Bhavan in the city.
"We've finalised our calculation under the new base year, nominal GDP size has grown by 13 per cent over the old base year estimate while the real GDP size increased by 60 per cent," said a senior official at the BBS.
The new base, however, included nearly 150 new products and services.
The agriculture and forestry sector alone contributed 24 new crops to the GDP measurement.
In the financial intermediation sector, the new entrants are micro-credit, cooperative banking, Central Depository Bangladesh Limited, insurance agents and house building financing.
The BBS is now being guided by the system of national accounting (SNA)-1993 of the UN Statistical Commission, established in 1947, as the apex entity of the global statistical system and the highest decision making body for coordinating international statistical activities.
It has planned to adopt SNA 2008 of UN Statistical Commission to measure GDP.
A consultant of International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dr AC Kulshrestha, trained the BBS officials and put forward some recommendations for the statistics and informatics division in this regard.
Updating the base year through revising the GDP estimation has become essential for various reasons, including newer economic activities, progressive expansion and downsizing of different industries and economic sectors over the years.
In Bangladesh, the GDP base year, generally, is revised every 10 years. In India, it is revised every five years to improve quality and accuracy of data in an updated manner as far as possible.
New base year ups FY'13 GDP size by $18 billion
Published : Wednesday, 04 September 2013
Jasim Uddin Haroon
The size of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) has gone up by more than $18 billion in the last fiscal (2012-13) to US$151 billion in nominal terms under the new baseline of the fiscal year (FY) 2005-06.
The figure represents a 13 per cent increase in size of the GDP of the last fiscal over that of the same year, measured according to the old baseline of 1995-96, officials at the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) told the FE Tuesday.
An inter-ministerial meeting will be held at the Bangladesh Parishankan Bhavan today (Wednesday) at 11 in the morning to approve the new size of the GDP estimated on the basis of the new base year.
Country's nominal GDP, or GDP at current prices, now stands at $133 billion under the old base year.
The BBS officials also said the size of the country's real GDP will be larger by at least 60 per cent under the new baseline.
The changes in size of the real GDP will be mainly due to the price changes between the two periods.
BBS officials said the new base year will give a more accurate picture of the economy's structure.
Earlier, a technical committee led by Professor Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud approved the Bureau's programme of making a new base year in July last.
The committee had approved the new base year of 2005-06 instead of 1995-96 with the revision of product and services basket.
Sources said it will also announce final GDP growth rate and size of 2011-12 fiscal year under the new base year.
The Ministry of Planning had earlier approved the new base period and GDP measurement.
Bangladesh's per capita income will go up in line with the increase in the size of the GDP.
It needs $1,006 per capita income to pull the country up to the middle-income group.
The technical committee sat on the issue with the Planning Minister AK Khandker on Thursday last at the Parishankan Bhavan in the city.
"We've finalised our calculation under the new base year, nominal GDP size has grown by 13 per cent over the old base year estimate while the real GDP size increased by 60 per cent," said a senior official at the BBS.
The new base, however, included nearly 150 new products and services.
The agriculture and forestry sector alone contributed 24 new crops to the GDP measurement.
In the financial intermediation sector, the new entrants are micro-credit, cooperative banking, Central Depository Bangladesh Limited, insurance agents and house building financing.
The BBS is now being guided by the system of national accounting (SNA)-1993 of the UN Statistical Commission, established in 1947, as the apex entity of the global statistical system and the highest decision making body for coordinating international statistical activities.
It has planned to adopt SNA 2008 of UN Statistical Commission to measure GDP.
A consultant of International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dr AC Kulshrestha, trained the BBS officials and put forward some recommendations for the statistics and informatics division in this regard.
Updating the base year through revising the GDP estimation has become essential for various reasons, including newer economic activities, progressive expansion and downsizing of different industries and economic sectors over the years.
In Bangladesh, the GDP base year, generally, is revised every 10 years. In India, it is revised every five years to improve quality and accuracy of data in an updated manner as far as possible.
.
