Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), and the Policy Exchange Bangladesh (PEB) on Sunday published their latest report on Bangladesh Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), finding that it has increased to 62.2 points in November.
The report found there was expansion in most of Bangladesh’s key economic sectors, except for construction.
The November reading of the (PMI) increased by 6.5 points from the previous month to record a faster expansion rate at 62.2.
The latest PMI readings indicate a gradual expansion of the Bangladesh economy for the second month after previously posting 3 months of contractions.
Despite the positive outlook, the economy continues to face challenges arising from various political process-related uncertainties and disruptions from industrial and other protests.
This latest PMI reading was attributed to a faster rate of expansion posted by agriculture, manufacturing, and services sectors, but the construction sector reverted to a contraction.
The agriculture sector posted a second month of expansion and at a faster rate.
The sector posted a faster expansion rate for indices of new business and business activity.
The employment index posted a slower contraction, whereas the order backlogs index posted a faster contraction.
The manufacturing sector posted a third month of expansion and at a faster rate.
The sector posted expansion readings for the indexes of new orders, new exports, factory output, input purchases, and input prices.
First-time expansion readings were recorded for indices of finished goods, imports, employment, and supplier deliveries. The order backlogs index posted a slower contraction rate.
The construction sector reverted to a contraction after posting a marginal expansion in the previous month.
The sector posted contraction readings for the indexes of input costs and order backlogs, whereas expansion readings were recorded for indexes of new business, construction activity, and employment.
The services sector posted a second month of expansion and at a faster rate.
The sector posted a faster expansion rate for the indexes of new business, business activity and order backlogs.
The input costs index posted a slower expansion rate, whereas the employment index reverted to an expansion.
In terms of the future business index, faster expansion rates were recorded for the key sectors of agriculture, construction, and services, whereas the manufacturing sector posted a slower expansion rate.
The PMI is a pioneering initiative that aims to offer timely and accurate insights into the country's economic health to help businesses, investors and policy makers make informed decisions.
It was developed by MCCI and Policy Exchange, with support from the UK Government and technical support from Singapore Institute of Purchasing & Materials Management (SIPMM).