The April reading of the Bangladesh Purchasing Managers’ Index, prepared by the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with Policy Exchange Bangladesh, declined by 2.1 points to 62.2 against the PMI value 64.3 in March.
It, however, said that Bangladesh economy demonstrated resilience despite inflationary pressures and uncertainties arising from ongoing geopolitical conflicts.
The MCCI launched the PMI report for Bangladesh at the trade body’s office in the capital Dhaka on Thursday.
‘The purchasing managers’ index provides an opportunity to look at the necessary data in a structured way, while the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data fail to reflect the dynamic scenes in many cases,’ said Policy Exchange Bangladesh chairman M Masrur Reaz at the launching event.
State minister for finance Waseqa Ayesha Khan said that the BBS was working hard to provide the country proper data, and the newly launched PMI would help progress the business sector of the country with their data more swiftly.
Despite the decrease from the previous month, the economy remains on the expansion track with the new quarter, according to the PMI report.
It found that robust growth was recorded for both the manufacturing and agriculture sectors, whereas the services and construction sectors posted slower growth.
There was a slower expansion rate in key sectors such as services and construction, which was offset by a faster expansion rate in sectors like agriculture and manufacturing, it said.
Though providing a faster expansion rate for the indices of new orders, new exports, factory output, input purchases and supplier deliveries, the manufacturing sector posted a slower expansion rate for the indices of imports and order backlog.
The construction sector posted a faster expansion rate in the employment sector, but posted a slower expansion rate for the indices of new business, construction activity and input costs.
The agriculture sector posted a faster expansion rate for the indices of new business, business activity and input costs, but posted a slower expansion rate for the order backlog index.
The services sector posted a faster expansion rate for the order backlog index, while posting a slower expansion rate for the indices of new business, business activity, employment and input costs.
Matt Cannell, deputy British high commissioner and development director to Bangladesh, among others, was present in the programme.