The military-backed interim government, which took office on January 12th 2007, is expected to remain in power for the early part of the forecast period. An electoral road map schedules the next general election for October-December 2008, by which time electoral reforms should have been completed. However, the Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts that delays relating to the monsoon season (June-September) are likely to push the election date back to 2009. Fiscal policy is expected to remain expansionary. Despite inflation concerns, Bangladesh Bank (BB, the central bank) is expected to maintain an accommodative stance. Real GDP is forecast to grow by 6.2% in fiscal year 2007/08 (July-June) and 6.4% in 2008/09. The trade deficit is expected to widen in 2008-09, but this will be offset by record inflows of workers' remittances. |
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| Key Reports Available for Bangladesh |
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| Land area | | 147,570 sq km | | Population | | 140.6m (2006 government estimate) | | Main towns | | Population in '000 (2006 government estimate) | | Dhaka (capital) 11,814 | | Chittagong 3,588 | | Khulna 1,323 | | Rajshahi 737 | | Climate | | Tropical monsoon | | Weather in Dhaka | | Hottest month, July, 23-35°C (average daily minimum and maximum); coldest month, January, 11-28°C; driest months, December and January, 5 mm average monthly rainfall; wettest month, July, 567 mm average monthly rainfall | | Languages | | Bengali; Urdu and Hindi are minority languages, and English is also used | | Religion | | Muslim (89.7% in 2001 census); Hindu (9.2%); Buddhist (0.7%); Christian (0.3%); others (0.1%) | | Measures | | Imperial system. Local measures include: 1 tola=11.66 g; 1 seer=80 tolas=932 g; 1 maund=40 seers=37.29 kg | | Numbers are commonly expressed in crores and lakhs; 1 crore=10m, written 1,00,00,000; 1 lakh=100,000, written 1,00,000 | | Currency | | Taka (Tk)=100 paisa. Annual average exchange rate in 2007: Tk69.87:US$1; exchange rate on July 14th 2007: Tk68.50:US$1 | | Fiscal year | | July 1st-June 30th | | Time | | 6 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) | | Public holidays in 2008 | | January 1st (New Year's Day), 10th (Islamic New Year); February 21st (International Mother Language Day); March 21st (Birth of the Prophet) 26th (Independence Day); April 14th (Bengali New Year); May 1st (Labour Day), 20th (Buddha Purnima); July 30th (Shab-e Barat); October 1st (Eid al-Fitr), 2nd (Durga Puja), 20th (Shab e-Qadr); November 7th (National Revolution Day); December 9th (Eid al-Adha), 16th (Victory Day); 29th (Islamic New Year); plus religious holidays that depend on lunar sightings, and optional holidays for various religious groups |
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