Dhaka, May 4 -- Bangladesh's economy is showing signs of a gradual recovery, though GDP growth remains under pressure due to historically low tax revenues and a struggling banking sector burdened by about 35 percent of defaulted loans.

Professor Selim Raihan of the Economics department at Dhaka University, and also Executive Director of the South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM), told UNB that the IMF has downgraded Bangladesh's GDP growth forecast, citing weak revenue collection, persistent inflation and growing fiscal stress.

"This signals a slowing economy characterised by declining job creation, fragile private sector investment and increasing external vulnerabilities. Inflation is likely to remain high, placing further s...