Bangladesh Purchasing Managers’ Index in July plummeted by 27 points compared with that of the previous month, signalling a sharp contraction with a reading of 36.9 as the recent widespread unrests, leading to prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation and the government’s fall, sharply contracted all key economic sectors, said a report published by the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The PMI also showed signs of recovery, with expansion across all sectors.
The latest PMI reading was driven by contractions across all key sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, construction and services. Â
The agriculture sector saw a sharp contraction after six consecutive months of expansion, with significant declines in the indexes for new business, business activity and employment.
However, input costs index expanded at a faster pace, while order backlog index experienced a slower expansion.
The manufacturing sector experienced a sharp contraction after seven consecutive months of expansion, with significant declines in new orders, new exports, factory output and supplier deliveries, the index showed.
Meanwhile, employment index continued to expand, though at a slower pace, it mentioned.
However, the index showed that input purchases and input prices saw faster expansion rates and the finished goods index returned to expansion.
In contrast, the imports index reverted to contraction and order backlog index expanded at a slower rate.
It found that the construction sector returned to contraction after seven consecutive months of expansion, with sharp declines in new business, construction activity and employment indexes.
However, the input costs index expanded at a slower rate and the order backlog index reverted to expansion.
Similarly, the services sector experienced a sharp contraction after seven months of growth, with significant declines in new business and business activity, a contraction in employment, a slower expansion in input costs and a more gradual contraction in the order backlog index.
Regarding future business index, the PMI noted slower expansion in agriculture and manufacturing, while faster expansion was observed in construction and services.
The Bangladesh PMI was developed in January 2024 by the MCCI and Policy Exchange Bangladesh, in cooperation with Singapore Institute of Purchasing and Materials Management and supported by UK International Development.