The country’s industrial activities in the first half of the current fiscal year (2014-15) witnessed a moderate trend. The moderate trend is reflected in the latest data available with state-owned Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). Last week, BBS released data of industrial output of July-December period of 2014 at the fag end of FY’15. It shows that the Quantum Index of Industrial Production (QIIP) of medium and large scale manufacturing industries stood at 243.36 points at the end of December last year which was 240.13 points at the end of June. But December index is lower than July when the index was 257.05 points, the highest in the first six months of current fiscal year. Official statistics also showed that industrial activities went through a fluctuation in the following months. The six month average index, however, stood at 234.20 points registering a 13 per cent growth over the same period of FY’14. The first half of FY’14 was a period of turmoil as political violence hit country. On the other hand, first half of current fiscal year went through a calm situation. Industrial output index of major industry group also revealed upward trend in most of the sectors. BBS data showed that among the major industry group, output of wearing apparels, food products, non-metallic mineral products, leather and related products, chemicals and chemical products, basic metals and fabricated metal products except machinery has registered positive growth over the first six months of previous fiscal year. On the other hand output of textile, pharmaceuticals and tobacco products have declined significantly. Besides manufacturing, output of mining has also increased moderately during the first half of the current fiscal year. Electricity output, however, declined slightly. According to BBS, mining output stood at 174.54 points at the end of December last which was 155.27 at the end of June 2014. On the other hand, electricity output index stood 152.81 points in December last which was 203.83 in June 2014. Asian Development Bank (ADB), in its latest quarterly update on Bangladesh economy, said that industrial growth dropped to 8.4 per cent in FY’14 from 9.6 per cent a year earlier, due to supply disruption and weaker consumer confidence resulting from political unrest. “At 8.5 per cent, industry sector growth in FY2015 will be lower than expected at the beginning of FY2015, as exports, small-scale manufacturing, and construction activities have been affected by the political unrest,” it added. ADB, however, pointed out that better performance of large- and medium-scale industries prior to the onset of the unrest is expected to hold up industry sector growth.
Source: https://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2015/04/25/90160
