Business Confidence Index report revealed Bangladesh’s business confidence has been significantly affected by the economic downturn and structural challenges.
LightCastle Partners, a renowned business consulting firm, recently launched the fifth edition of its flagship publication, The LightCastle Business Confidence Index 2022-23.
The report provides a detailed assessment of the perspectives of 167 industry leaders from over 25 sectors, including multinational corporations, local conglomerates, startups, and SMEs, offering a comprehensive overview of Bangladesh’s dynamic business environment.
The report delves into the private sector’s resilience amidst economic headwinds caused by geopolitical challenges, with a particular focus on the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Additionally, it presents the expectations of industry thought leaders for the economy, taking into account performance and growth projections for the next six months.
Despite facing structural shifts, Bangladesh’s private sector has displayed a positive outlook in overall business sentiment, as indicated by an overall score of +6.69. Notably, local SMEs have performed better with a score of +14.91, surpassing local conglomerates and MNCs (+6.31).
This difference in scores is mainly attributed to external factors, as larger organisations tend to be more affected by fluctuations in the global market. Although the 2023 BCI remains positive, it is slightly lower than the previous year’s score (+28.69), signalling a subtle deceleration in overall business sentiment.
Slower economic growth, increased costs, and reduced consumer demand have contributed to a lower yet positive confidence index for this fiscal year. According to the BCI survey conducted from March to June this year, businesses have identified the following top five challenges: rising costs of raw materials, inadequate policy implementation, difficulty in accessing finance, weak demand, and inefficient human resources.
Approximately 70 per cent of the surveyed businesses reported being impacted by the rising costs of raw materials and weak demand, primarily due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Financial challenges have arisen from irregularities, high levels of non-performing loans, cash shortages, reduced savings, and currency devaluation. Inefficient human resources and the absence of beneficial policies have consistently been highlighted in previous BCI surveys, demanding effective resolutions for enhanced business efficiency.
