It also expects Bangladesh to grow at 7.1 percent during next fiscal (2022-2023).
"GDP is projected to continue to grow strongly at 6.9 percent in FY2022 on stepped-up budget spending, a strong expansion in exports and a slight improvement in agricultural output," the Manila-based bank said in its Asian Development Outlook Update (ADOU) 2022, which was released here Wednesday.
ADB's GDP or gross domestic product projection for Bangladesh is slightly different to other estimates.
The World Bank in January said Bangladesh is expected to reach 6.4 percent in fiscal year 2021-2022 and 6.9 percent in fiscal year 2022-23 due to increasing demand in the local economy and solid export figures of apparel items.
The Bangladeshi government had earlier announced the massive spendings for both urban and rural areas and projected an economic growth of 7.2 percent for the current fiscal year.
However, ADOU points out that Bangladesh GDP grew by 6.9 percent in fiscal year 2020-2021, up from 3.4 percent in fiscal year 2019-2020 (July 2019-June 2020).
According to ADOU, the rise in external trade and the swift implementation of supportive fiscal and monetary stimulus measures to tackle the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic helped foster a solid expansion in fiscal 2021.
Inflation is expected to increase to 6.0 percent in the current 2022 fiscal from 5.6 percent in 2021, it said.
Current account deficit is likely to widen from 0.9 percent of GDP in 2021 fiscal to 2.7 percent of GDP in 2022 fiscal on increase in imports and decline in remittance growth.
According to the ADOU, the main risk to this growth projection is higher prices for oil and imports, and the loss of export sales beyond those built in the present forecasts, mainly due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
"The ongoing socio-economic recovery needs to be accelerated by enhancing domestic resource mobilization, incentivizing the private sector to create products and services, promoting modern green technologies, and fostering knowledge and innovation," said ADB Country Director Edimon Ginting.
"Building climate resilient infrastructure and services, introducing carbon tax on fossil fuels, and promoting green investments will help to further advance the current policy initiatives for managing climate change for inclusive and sustainable green growth," Ginting added.
The ADOU points out that managing climate change is critical to ensure inclusive and environmentally sustainable growth.
It stressed the need for enabling policies for adoption of green technologies and for greening of existing industries.
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