Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

    DHAKA, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Assistant Secretary General Ajay Chhibber of the United Nations on Tuesday said Bangladesh will be less affected by the global economic downturn than other nations in the South Asian region as the country is not much integrated with world financial system.

    After a meeting with Bangladesh's Finance Minister AMA Muhith here on Tuesday, Chhibber told reporters that the impact of global recession on Bangladesh's exports and remittance have so far been less but can deepen in future.

    "We hope the impact of recession will be much less for Bangladesh," said Chhibber, who arrived in Dhaka on Saturday for a five-day visit.

    He said the Bangladeshi government is aware of the possible impacts of global economic downturn which already hit economies of many countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

    "We'll have to intensely monitor the world economic situation. Impact on our export earning and remittance are still less but we must remain high on alert," said Bangladesh's Finance Minister Muhith at the same occasion,

    The World Bank earlier said Bangladesh's exports and remittance will be affected due to global economic downturn which will bring down the country's GDP growth from 6.5 percent to 5.4 percent in current 2008-09 fiscal (July 2008-June 2009).