Bangladesh has been one of the top five resilient economies in the world during the coronavirus pandemic, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today.

The minister made the remarks quoting surveys by several international organisations while addressing the Commonwealth Trade and Investment Summit 2021.

According to the October report of the International Monetary Fund in 2020, the global economy contracted by 4.4 per cent.

"At that time, Bangladesh was one of the few economies that saw positive growth. According to the surveys of several international organisations, Bangladesh is one of the top five resilient economies in the world during the pandemic."

"We are all aware that the global economy has shrunk by 3 per cent in the last year due to Covid-19, while the Commonwealth economy has shrunk by about 10 per cent, which is one of the main regulators of the decline in global trade and investment," the minister said.

Kamal said a report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) indicates that global foreign direct investment fell by 42 per cent in 2020.

And the commonwealth economies in Asia and the Pacific have suffered more than 50 per cent, he said.

"Against this background, the great purpose of our today's meeting is to find a way to a strong recovery in both the trade and investment of the commonwealth countries," the minister also said.