Last week, we hosted the 3rd State of Investment Climate webinar with Sk. Bashir Uddin, Adviser for commerce, aviation and tourism 🇧🇩 as our guest of honor.
Here are top five takeaways:
1. Reserves and exchange rates have stabilized, driven by export ⬆️ 11% and remittance ⬆️ 30% for YTD 24-25.
2. Inflation is trending down 📉 — from double digits to single. IMF forecasts inflation to be at ~5% by early 2026 in line with our estimate. Policy rate cuts to follow after.
3. FDI held steady despite last year’s turbulence. A dip in Q3 was short-lived—Q4 and Q1 2025 show signs of rebound ⬆️ 29% YoY. Private credit showed uptrend for the first time in March since last summer.
4. Energy has been a concern. But with $3B+ arrears cleared, we expect pricing and supply to improve in 6 months.
5. 18 of 32 investment climate reform initiatives completed ✅, 7 lagging behind and the rest are on track. Some of the big rocks e.g. integration however are still pending.
The Adviser attended to wide-ranging questions including sustaining MFN tariff access through trade reforms, upgrading cargo infrastructure, boosting domestic tourism and cold chains, and improving digital trade and e-commerce frameworks.
📊Full Deck: shorturl.at/xPbul
▶️Full Webinar: youtu.be/1L8UVXTbPfY
We’ll be back with the next one soon.