The country's gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an estimated 6.1% in the first quarter (July-September) of the current fiscal year, while growth in the last fiscal (2022-23, or FY23) stood at 5.8% in the final count, lower than the official projection, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. This is for the first time the official statistical agency released quarterly GDP growth data of a current fiscal, having started quarterly adjustment of old GDP numbers of previous years on the advice of the IMF last year, to assess the movement of the country's economy and help policymakers take decisions on time.

The first quarter growth of the current fiscal FY24 was slower than the 6.24% growth posted in the last quarter of FY23 and much lower year-on-year. The GDP growth of Q1 of the previous fiscal year (FY23) was a staggering 8.76%, which fell to below 6% for the whole fiscal year due to poor performance in the third quarter.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury have been finally released from jail, after securing bail in all the cases against them. The BNP leaders walked out of Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj at about 3:45pm on Thursday. A day earlier, they were granted bail in a case filed over the attack on the chief justice's residence at Kakrail in the capital on October 28. Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court's acting judge Faisal Atique Bin Quader granted bail to the two BNP senior leaders.

Earlier on February 6, lawyers of Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury filed petitions seeking their bail. The BNP secretary general was implicated in 11 cases centring the political violence on October 28 and subsequent clashes. Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury was sued in 10 cases. The two of them were picked up by police within a day of each other shortly after that.

A Chattogram court issued an arrest warrant against Chattogram-10 MP Mohiuddin Bachchu in a case filed by the Election Commission for violating the electoral code of conduct during the 12th Jatiya Sangsad elections. Chattogram Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Salauddin's court passed the order on Thursday (15 February), after he failed to respond to a summons, the court's bench assistant Tariqul Islam told the press. Earlier on 16 January, Muhammad Mustafa Kamal, the election officer of Double Mooring police station, filed the case against Mohiuddin Bachchu.

The case alleges that Mohiuddin Bachchu distributed government grant cheques to imams, muezzins and mosques violating the Election Code of Conduct. The code of conduct prevents using the influence of money during elections. According to sources close to the case, Mohiuddin Bachchu personally distributed Tk1,000 to the imams and muezzins of all mosques in the Chattogram-10 constituency on December 22.

Bangladesh has slipped two notches to rank 75th in the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index 2023. It scored 5.87 out of 10 and was categorised as a hybrid regime. The countries that combine elements of formal democracy and authoritarianism have been classified as hybrid regimes in the index. In the report released on Thursday, the EIU examined the democratic health of 165 independent states and two territories, under five variables - electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.

A total of 24 countries enjoyed complete democracy in 2023, while 50 countries were under flawed democracy, 34 under hybrid regimes and 59 under authoritarian rule. In South Asia, India outperformed its peers with an overall score of 7.18 and the position at 41. It advanced 5 notches in comparison to the previous year. Conversely, Pakistan slipped 11 spots to stand at 118th position and has been classified as an authoritarian regime, with an average score of only 3.25.