Bangladesh has basically an agrarian economy with 21% of GDP coming form agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors. More importantly, 48.4% of the country’s labour forces are employed in this sector. Major agricultural products are rice, wheat, potato, pulses, tobacco, tea, sugarcane, etc. The country is the largest exporter of jute and jute goods. Readymade garments occupy the tob position among exportable items. Tea, frozen shrimps, leather goods, fish and vegetables, ceramic-ware, pharmaceuticals, flowers, IT-enabled services, assembled ships and indigenous handicrafts are also major exportable commodities.
Although the dominant role for the public sector was rolled back since the mid-1970s, a major restructuring of the economy with emphasis on private-sector-led economic growth took shape during the 1990s. The Interantional Finance Corporation, an affiliate of the World Bank has ranked Bangladesh as the most active regulatory reformer in South Asia in its latest report on Doing Business. Bangladesh has also improved her ranking by 5 positions in another recent report on global competitiveness published by the World Economic Forum. The national budget for 2009-10 has emphasized the role of public-private partnership for socio-economic growth and development of the country.