Economy of Bangladesh

GDP - purchasing power parity:                      $187 billion (1999 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:                                   5.2% (1999 est.)
GDP - per capita-purchasing power parity:      $1,470 (1999 est.)     

                                                                       agriculture: 30%
GDP - composition by sector:                          industry: 17%
                                                                       services: 53% (1999 est.)

Population below poverty line:                          35.6% (FY95/96 est.)

Household income or consumption by               lowest 10%: 4.1%              
percentage share:                                              highest 10%: 23.7% (1992)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):                         9% (FY98/99 est.)      
Labor force:                                                     56 million (1995-96)  (note: extensive export of labor to Saudi
                                                                                                  Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar, Malaysia, and Singapore)

Labor force - by occupation:                            agriculture 63%, services 26%, industry 11% (FY95/96)
Unemployment rate:                                         35.2% (1996)

Budget:                                                            revenues: $4.3 billion
                                                                       expenditures: $6.5 billion, including capital expenditures
                                                                       of $NA (1997) 

Industries:                                                      cotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper,
                                                                     newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, sugar 

Industrial production:                                     growth rate 2.5% (1997 est.)

Electricity - production:                                 12.5 billion kWh (1999 est.)

Electricity - production by source:                  fossil fuel: 98%   
                                                                     hydro: 2%
                                                                     nuclear: 0%
                                                                     other: 0% (1999)

Electricity - consumption:                                11.039 billion kWh (1998)

Agriculture - products:                                    rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes; beef, milk,
                                                                      poultry, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit

Exports:                                                         $5.1 billion (1998)

Exports - commodities:                                  garments, jute and jute goods, leather, frozen fish and seafood

Exports - partners:                                         US 33%, Germany 10%, UK 9%, France 6%, Italy 5% 
                                                                      (1997)

Imports:                                                         $8.01 billion (1998)

Imports - commodities:                                   machinery and equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles,
                                                                      raw cotton, food, crude oil and petroleum products, cement


Imports - partners:                                         India 12%, China 9%, Japan 7%, Hong Kong 6%,
                                                                     South Korea 6% (1997)

Currency:                                                     1 taka (Tk) = 100 paisa

Fiscal year:                                                   1 July - 30 June