Page 36 - ICE BUSINESS TIMES January 2020

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS
OF THE ECONOMY

suffer for rising trade and domestic demand all registered
geopolitical tensions, the local lackluster performance in the
economy cannot stay immune, given year, particularly from July
with the lack of leadership and to November. Stock market
effective regulatory roles grounded to rock bottom in its
weighing on business, index, frustrating both investors
investment and domestic and policymakers. The
demand, say analysts. government borrowed the whole
Economy started faltering and losing steam from the Economic indicators like import of the yearly target in the first
middle of the outgoing year despite political calm in growth, revenue earnings five months of the current fiscal
the country and a grim outlook for sluggish global including value added tax (VAT) year from the banks, due to
economy. When international and regional economies collection, inflation and record revenue shortfall.

CROSSING THE 5PC FACTORY PRODUCTION
BUDGET DEFICITT AT A SLUGGISH PACE
BOUNDARY

Budget deficit is set to cross the sensible Major industrial sectors are suffering from a
sluggishness as factory production slowed down
perimeter of 5 percent of GDP in fiscal to a great extent in the July-August period of
2018-19 for the first time in 12 years on 2019-20 thanks to a fall in shipments.
the back of ebbing collections of the tax Factory production saw a 2.2 percent year-on-year
administrator. rise in the July-August period this year which was
Revenue collection grew 10.67 percent as high as 14.6 percent in the same period the
last fiscal year against the target of previous year, according to the Bangladesh
about 46 percent, according to Bureau of Statistics (BBS). A fall in exports has
provisional data of the National Board of mainly slowed the growth. The main industrial
Revenue. But, data from the Comptroller sector of apparel—where around 4.4 million
and Auditor General office shows that people work—has been suffering from a downturn
the growth was less than 10 percent. As in exports for the last couple of months. Apart
per the finance division’s provisional from apparels, production of cotton yarn,
data, the budget deficit last fiscal year pharmaceuticals, rod and cement also dropped
was 5.2 percent. along with leather and leather goods.

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