International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday projected 5 per cent growth for Bangladesh’s economy in the current 2020-2021 fiscal.

In its ‘World Economic Outlook,” published on Tuesday ahead of IMF’s annual spring meeting with the World Bank, the global financial institution predicted that Bangladesh’s economy is expected to grow by 7.5 per cent in the next fiscal of 2021-2022.

IMF’s projection about the Bangladesh’s economic growth is higher than that of the World Bank.

The World Bank has projected 3.6 per cent economic growth for Bangladesh in the current fiscal of 2020-2021.

However, the World Bank said that the growth depends on the progress of ongoing vaccination programme to check coronavirus in the country.

“If the situation improves, the growth might reach at 5.6 per cent. But, if the situation worsens the growth may decline to 2.3 per cent,” it said.

On the other hand, ESCAP in a report published recently predicted that the Bangladesh’s GDP growth might reach 7.2 per cent in the current fiscal.

In its ‘World Economic Outlook’, the IMF also projected 12.5% growth rate for India, and 1.5% growth for Pakistan in 2021.

China, the only major economy to have a positive growth rate last year during the Covid-19 pandemic, is expected to see a growth by 8.6 per cent in 2021 and 5.6 per cent in 2022.

“We are now projecting a stronger recovery in 2021 and 2022 for the global economy compared to our previous forecast, with growth projected to be 6%in 2021 and 4.4% in 2022,” said IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath.

IMF’s World Economic Outlook also projected a 7.1% growth for the US, 3.3% for Euro Zone and 5.9% for the UK in 2021.

“Global prospects remain highly uncertain one year into the pandemic. New virus mutations and the accumulating human toll raise concerns, even as growing vaccine coverage lifts sentiment. Economic recoveries are diverging across countries and sectors, reflecting variation in pandemic-induced disruptions and the extent of policy support,” the report said.

IMF said it expects the world economy to grow by 6% in 2021, up from its 5.5% forecast in January.