Firms recovered 60% of business compared to pre-pandemic level: Sanem

Firms in Bangladesh have recovered about 60 per cent of their business compared to the pre-pandemic levels, found a survey.

The survey, conducted by the South Asian Network for Economic Model (Sanem), found that firms recovered 60.6 per cent of their business during the October-December quarter last year, up from 56.8 per cent in the previous quarter.

This was the seventh round of the survey that the Sanem carried out on 502 firms nationwide in January this year. The research organisation has been conducting the survey since July 2020 to track the situation of the economy and the sentiment of businesses during the pandemic.

The Present Business Status Index (PBSI) was 59.20 per cent in the October-December quarter from 56.79 per cent in the earlier quarter.

"It indicates a continuation of improvement. Over the quarters, there has been a gradual recovery in business activities," said Sanem Executive Director Selim Raihan while sharing the findings of the survey.

The improvement is visible in all sub-indicators. However, a considerable improvement has been observed in the profitability and sales or export orders of sub-indicators.

Faster recovery has been observed in readymade garment, textile, restaurant, food processing, and pharmaceuticals sectors.

However, overall business confidence in January-March 2022 faces a decline in comparison to the October-December period.

Most of the sectors have expressed lesser confidence for the upcoming quarter, reflecting their growing concern about the advent of Omicron, the economist added.