country studies on bangladesh, nepal and sri lanka - Escap

STUDIES IN TRADE AND INVESTMENT 70
at national and subregional workshops under the project, is presented. 5 Finally,
a subregional action programme is proposed to promote sectoral value chains for SMEs
in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka
2.1. Summary of economic conditions in Bangladesh, Nepal and
Sri Lanka and the status of SME sector
Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka are at different levels of development.
Sri Lanka is well ahead of two other countries. Bangladesh and Nepal are categorized
as least developed countries, while Sri Lanka is in a category of lower middle-income
developing countries. As indicated in Table 1, of the three countries, Sri Lanka has the
highest per capita income of $2,290 (or $5,098 in purchasing power parity). The per
capita incomes of Bangladesh and Nepal are $640 (or $1,677 in purchasing power parity)
and $490 (or $1,255 in purchasing power parity), respectively. In terms of the average
growth rate of GDP (in ordinal term) from 2006 to 2010, Bangladesh (6.1 per cent) closely
follows Sri Lanka (6.4 per cent), while Nepal shows the lowest rate (4.4 per cent).
Table 1: Macroeconomic indicators
Indicators Bangladesh Nepa l Sri Lanka
GDP growth rate (2006-2010) 6.1 4.4 6.4
Per capita GDP at current purchasing power
parity (2010) – (in US$) 1 677 1 255 5 098
Per capita GNI at current US$ 640 490 2 290
Share of agriculture (2010) – as per cent of GDP 18.8 35 12.8
Share of industry (2010) – as per cent of GDP 28.5 15 29.4
Share of services GDP (2010) – as per cent of GDP 52.6 50.1 57.8
Exports of goods and services (2010) 18.5 9.8 21.7
– as per cent of GDP
Source: ADB (2011).
14
The level of development of these countries is also reflected in their respective
shares in agriculture, industry and services as a percentage of GDP – the share of the
agricultural sector being the greatest for Nepal (35 per cent) and the lowest for Sri Lanka
(12.8 per cent), while Bangladesh is occupying the middle position with 18.8 per cent.
As for the industry sector, Sri Lanka has the highest share of 29.4 per cent of GDP,
followed by Bangladesh with its 28.5 per cent and Nepal with its 15 per cent. Sri Lanka
has the largest share in services sector (57.8 per cent of GDP), whereas Bangladesh and
Nepal show 52.6 per cent and 50.1 per cent of GDP, respectively. In terms of exports
contributing to higher growth rates, it is noted that exports as per cent of GDP is higher
for the countries having higher GDP growth rates and higher per capita income. For
example Sri Lanka having the highest GDP growth rate also has the highest exports at
5
See “Methodology” section in Chapter 1 for the information on national and subregional
workshops.