Dhaka  - Bangladesh's economy is expected to grow at its lowest rate in five years during the current fiscal year, mainly due to the impact of global recession, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) projected Tuesday.

The ADB Outlook 2009, the annual publication of the lending agency, said that the country's GDP growth would fall to 5.6 percent from 6.2 percent in the 2008-09 fiscal year.

It also projects a further decline in growth to 5.2 percent in the 2009-10 fiscal year.

Bangladesh has achieved growth rates of more than 6 percent since the 2003-04 fiscal year, with the exception of the 2004-05 period, when the growth rate slipped to 5.96 per cent amid devastating floods, which led to huge crop losses.

Launching the annual report, ADB's country director in Bangladesh, Paul J Heytens, said the country was largely unaffected by the first phase of the global slowdown, due to its limited exposure to international financial markets.

But he warned that follow-on effects would mean reduced export earnings and remittances.

A slowdown in remittances is inevitable as the global financial crisis is spreading beyond the credit markets and into the real economy, said the report.

It advised the government to invest in infrastructure, especially power generation.

Accelerating development programmes and supporting small and medium enterprises have become essential to Bangladesh if it is to absorb a likely surge in unemployment, the report added.

Bangladesh's growth rates are still quite robust in comparison with many other countries in the region, said Heytens.

"But much of the growth will depend on how deep and prolonged the global recession ultimately turns out to be," he said, pointing out that slowing growth is a cause of concern for Bangladesh, where the poverty level is still very high. (dpa)