The finance ministry on Tuesday dismissed the reported apprehension about reduction of gross domestic product and per capita income following correction of the export earnings in the just concluded FY24.
In a press release issued on day, the ministry said that the apprehension about reduction of gross domestic product and per capita income reported in newspapers was not correct.
Refuting apprehension of economists, the release said that the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics always considered Bangladesh Bank data on export receipts to calculate the GDP.
Former World Bank Dhaka office chief economist Zahid Hussain, however, said the statistical bureau did not use the Bangladesh Bank data on export receipts in its calculations of FY23 and FY22.
The difference between the central bank data of export receipts and the exports figure considered by the statistical bureau was around 17 per cent in FY23, he said.
In FY23, the central bank showed export receipts at Tk 5,05,154.3 crore, while the statistical bureau calculated the export of goods and services at Tk 5,90,864.7 crore.
The difference between the Bangladesh Bank鈥檚 export receipts and the exports figure considered by the statistical bureau was around 14 per cent in FY22, said the economist.
Besides, the finance ministry鈥檚 claim that the central bank provided export data on export receipts was not correct, he said, adding that Bangladesh Bank provided the shipment data.
The Bureau of Statistics was yet to make final calculation regarding the GDP growth for FY24, he added.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Bank has published a revised export data for the first 11 months鈥擩uly鈥揗ay period鈥攐f the just concluded 2023鈥�24 financial year in which the export figure was lowered by $10.81 and calculated at $40.73 billion, compared with the Export Promotion Bureau provided figure of $51.54 billion for the period.
The revision in the export data has already led to correction of the central bank data of current account, financial account and trade deficit.
Subsequently, the government was expected to make the necessary corrections about GDP and per capita income, said executive director Ahsan H Mansur of the Policy Research Institute.
The finance ministry鈥檚 overall observation as reflected in the press release was not expected, he said.
The finance ministry in the press release also said that cash incentives provided against certain export items would not revise on the ground that the incentives were provided based on the export receipts by the Bangladesh Bank.