Bangladesh Business, Economy, Trade

Bangladesh has a wide variety of natural and agricultural resources. There are considerably large amounts of coal and gas, hard rock, lime stone and silicone sand in the country and these are important raw materials for many industries. Bangladesh's main industries are cotton, textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizers, sugar and light engineering.

In spite of the large quantities of agricultural resources available, the agro-based industries have not been properly utilized, because of a lack of technology and investment. Even the country’s marine resources are grossly under-exploited.

Bangladesh’s major trading partners for both imports and exports are the USA, India, Japan, China, Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and other European countries.

Bangladesh’s economy depends on the import of both consumer items and industrial raw materials. Bangladesh’s major import products are raw cotton, crude petroleum, wheat, oil, seeds, edible oil, petroleum products, fertilizer, yarn, capital goods, staple fibers, iron and steel.

The main export items of Bangladesh are tea, leather and leather products, garments, seafood, paper, furnace oil, urea, ceramic products, raw jute and jute products such as Hessian sacking, carpets and carpet backing.

The economic growth rate of Bangladesh has been maintained at a around 5% during the past ten years in spite of frequent natural calamities. In 2002 – 2003, the domestic savings rate was about 18.23% and the GDP was $275.7 billion in 2004. In the same year, the annual per capita was US$2000, growth rate 4.9%, industrial growth rate at constant price 6.5%, inflation rate 6% and the investment rate 23.5% of GDP.

Bangladesh’s main investment sectors are, service, textiles, chemicals, food and food related industries, glass and ceramics and energy based projects.