Bangladesh must find ways to ensure quality road networks, interrupted electricity, political stability, export diversification and low cost of doing business to attain the desired economic growth, a government official said yesterday.

Poor transport facility has been creating huge traffic congestion in the city, which ultimately increases the cost of doing business, said Shamsul Alam, member of the General Economics Division of the Planning Commission.

"Congestion and overcrowding are big setbacks to smooth movement of commodities from rural markets to

cities, "he said.

"These have to be addressed."

His comments came at a review meeting on the state of the economy organised by the Planning Commission to highlight the government's success in the last four years.

Despite several challenges, the economy has progressed phenomenally on all macro-fronts, which showed better results than any growth trends in the past, said Alam.

In the last four years, the annual average growth rate in Bangladesh was 6.3 percent, but it has been showing a declining trend from FY12 due to global recession and instability in the in-house political arena, he said.

The slow growth in FY13 can be attributed to the poor performance of the agriculture sector.

The average growth rate of agriculture in the last four years was 3.9 percent, which declined to 2.2 percent in FY13.

The ratio of savings to GDP remained virtually stagnant in the last four years.

Alam stressed the need for increasing investments in the private sector to accelerate GDP growth. "The political entities have to ensure calm business environment," he said.

Establishing trust between the government and the entrepreneurs is a must to face the challenges of high and sustainable economic growth, he said.

The FDI inflow to Bangladesh is not attractive, although the country registered steady growth in the field, said the Planning Commission official. Foreign direct investment first surpassed $1 billion in FYI 2, which reached $1.3 billion in FYI 3.

The country’s economy is performing "extremely well", although the global economy has been facing recession since 2007, said Finance Minister AMA Muhith.

The recession has been leaving a much bigger impact than the meltdown happened in 1929, as the present world economy is more integrated now, he said.

Muhith also agreed that the present export basket is too much dependent on readymade garments.

Exports of footwear, agro-based products, pharmaceutical and software and information technology business have tremendous potential, Muhith said. He also called upon the Planning Commission to review the state of the economy every two years.

Bangladesh would be able to turn into a middle-income nation by 2015, but it will take some more time to upgrade its least developed country status, Planning Minister AK Khandker said. Prime Minister's Economic Affairs Adviser Moshiur Rahman also spoke.