The country鈥檚 economic activities remained subdued during the July-September quarter of the current financial year 2025-26 due to prolonged聽political uncertainties, leading to weaker demand and reduced investment, according to a new report published by the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The quarterly review of economic situation, published on Monday, also stated that several sectors recorded year-on-year improvements during the first quarter under review, supported by easing inflationary pressures and greater stability on foreign exchange market.
鈥楾he Bangladesh Bank鈥檚 tight monetary and fiscal stance, in place since August of last year, has further dampened domestic demand,鈥� said the report on the overall general economic situation.
Moreover, private-sector credit growth declined to a historic low of 6.29 per cent in September, underscoring weak investment appetite and fading business confidence.
The report stated that recent Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data showed that gross domestic product growth slowed to 3.35 per cent in the fourth quarter of FY25, down from 4.86 per cent in the previous quarter.
Although growth remained sluggish, the July-September review period showed some signs of recovery. Improvements in exports, imports, inflation and remittances have helped stabilise foreign-currency reserves and provided some support to the broader economy.
鈥楾he Bangladesh economy is trying to overcome the difficulty due to the present political uncertainty and conflicting world scenario,鈥� the report said, adding that the performances of the selected economic indicators were mixed.
Among them, the report projected that exports and imports might increase in the next three months, warning that remittances might decrease first and then increase in the next two months.聽
However, foreign exchange reserves might decrease in November due to the country settling聽$1.60 billion in import payment obligations to Asian Clearing Union member countries.
The report expressed optimism that inflation was likely to decline gradually in October, November and December of FY26.
Regarding inflation, the report stated that a slight rebound was recorded, with the general inflation at 8.36 per cent in September 2025, compared with that of 9.92 per cent in the same period last year.
Food inflation recorded 7.64 per cent in September of 2025, which was 10.40 per cent in September of 2024, while non-food inflation was 8.98 per cent in September 2025 and 9.50 per cent in the same period of 2024.
Export earnings in July-September of FY26 increased by 5.25 per cent to $12.27 billion from $11.66 billion in July-September of FY25, mainly fuelled as usual by the robust performance of the readymade garments.
The trend of growth might be sustained in the next three months or second quarter of FY26, the MCCI report projected.
The inflow of remittances in the first quarter of FY26 increased by 15.95 per cent to $7.6 billion from $6.5 billion in July-September of FY25, driven by government聽measures, including higher cash incentives, streamlined regulations and efforts to boost formal transfer channels.
Foreign exchange reserves have increased in recent months and the gross reserves reached $31.43 billion at the end of September 2025, up from $24.86 billion a year earlier.
Meanwhile, BPM6-compliant reserves stood at $26.60 billion, compared with that of $19.86 billion at the end of September 2024.
Regarding the industry, the report said that聽data on the country鈥檚 industry sector was yet to be available for the quarter; however, the sector registered a lower growth of 4.10 per cent in the fourth quarter of FY25 and the share of the industry sector in GDP also decreased by 5.27 percentage points.
Citing the Bangladesh Power Development Board, the report said that the power plants generated 15,679 megawatts of electricity (evening, actual) against a maximum demand of 15,174 MW on September 30, 2025.聽
During the quarter under review, that is July-September of FY26, the maximum generation was 16,794 MW recorded on 24 July 2025.
Regarding foreign direct investment, the report stated that net inflows increased by 178.95 per cent to $318 million in the first quarter of FY26, from $114 million.
However, the FDI inflow in Bangladesh is still low compared to that in many other countries at a similar level of development, the report added.
The report also included data on agriculture, services, balance on payments, foreign aid, capital market, public finance and employment.