Economy — Bangladesh
GDP, employment, industries, public finance, and currency.
Profile updated 2026-06-02
⚡ Economy at a glance
GDP, employment, industries, public finance, and currency. Key figure for Bangladesh: Bangladesh's economy has grown roughly 6% per year since 2005 despite prolonged periods of political instability, poor infrastructure, endemic corruption, insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms. Although more than half of GDP is generated through the services sector, almost half…
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Economic overview
- Economic Overview
Bangladesh's economy has grown roughly 6% per year since 2005 despite prolonged periods of political instability, poor infrastructure, endemic corruption, insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms.
Although more than half of GDP is generated through the services sector, almost half of Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector, with rice as the single-most-important product.
Garments, the backbone of Bangladesh's industrial sector, accounted for more than 80% of total exports in FY 2016-17.
The industrial sector continues to grow, despite the need for improvements in factory safety conditions.
Steady export growth in the garment sector, combined with $13 billion in remittances from overseas Bangladeshis, contributed to Bangladesh's rising foreign exchange reserves in FY 2016-17.
Recent improvements to energy infrastructure, including the start of liquefied natural gas imports in 2018, represent a major step forward in resolving a key growth bottleneck.
- Industries
Jute, cotton, garments, paper, leather, fertilizer, iron and steel, cement, petroleum products, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, ceramics, tea, salt, sugar, edible oils, soap and detergent, fabricated metal products, electricity, natural gas
- GDP - per capita (PPP)
$3,900.00 (USD)
- GDP - real growth rate
6.9%
GDP & growth
- GDP - Gross Domestic Product (PPP)
$793,490,000,000 (USD)
- GDP Per Capita
$3,900.00 (USD)
- GDP - real growth rate
6.9%
- GDP - official exchange rate
$226,800,000,000 (USD)
- GDP - composition, by end use
- Household Consumption: 70.3%
- Government Consumption: 5.2%
- Investment in Fixed Capital: 28.2%
- Investment in Inventories: 3%
- Exports of Goods and Services: 16.5%
- Imports of Goods and Services: -23.2%
- GDP by Sector- agriculture
15.1%
- GDP by Sector- Industry
28.6%
- GDP by Sector- services
56.3%
- Industrial Growth Rate
8.4%
Prices & money
- Inflation Rate
5.6%
- Exchange Rate per US Dollar
78.5
- Currency Name and Code
Bangladeshi Taka (BDT)
- Fiscal Year
1 July - 30 June
- Commercial Bank Prime Lending Rate
10.7%
Employment & labor
- Labor Force
83,590,000
- Unemployment Rate
4.9%
- Unemployment - note
About 40% of the population is underemployed; many persons counted as employed work only a few hours a week and at low wages
- Major Industries
Jute, cotton, garments, paper, leather, fertilizer, iron and steel, cement, petroleum products, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, ceramics, tea, salt, sugar, edible oils, soap and detergent, fabricated metal products, electricity, natural gas
- Agriculture Products
Rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry
- Population Below Poverty Line
31.5%
- Child Labor - # of children ages 5-14
4,485,497
- Child Labor - % of children ages 5-14
13%
Public finance
- Annual Budget
$23,780,000,000 (USD)
- Public Debt (% of GDP)
25.9%
- Budget Surplus or Deficit - percent of GDP
-5.1%
- Taxes and other revenues - percent of GDP
10.5%