The import of capital machinery, raw materials, and intermediate goods has sharply decreased in the current fiscal year, which has negatively impacted the country’s industrial production and employment levels.
Data released on Monday by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) indicate a marked slowdown in the growth of manufacturing output. Forecasts for FY24 suggest that this growth would not exceed 6.66%.
Compared to the 8.37 percent growth reported the year before, as well as the 9.86 percent and 10.29 percent growth rates seen in the two preceding fiscal years, this is a significant decline.
According to data from the Bangladesh Bank, overall imports fell from US $ 58.27 billion during the same period last year to US $ 49.22 billion during the July–March quarter of the current fiscal year, a 15.5% decline.
Other intermediate items had a 20.2% drop in imports. The value of clinker imports in the first nine months of this fiscal year was US $715 million, down from US $927 million in the same period last year.
The country’s main export, clothing-related commodities, saw a 9.1% annual decline in imports during the first nine months of FY ’24. A breakdown shows that imports of raw cotton decreased by 24.9%, from US$ 3.44 billion to US$ 2.58 billion.
In addition, imports of yarn decreased by 10.2%, textiles and related goods by 8.2%, staple fiber by 6.1%, and tanning and dyeing supplies by 3.1%.
According to data from the BBS’s January–March 2024 workforce survey, the number of unemployed people in the country has increased to 25.9 lakh from 24.7 lakh in December.
