HSBC survey shows trade confidence on Bangladesh one of the highest globally

HSBC's latest Index, which was published recently, shows that Bangladesh's score increased The survey report said shipments from Bangladesh rose 11.9 percent year-on-year in 2013 and went up at a similar pace in the first five months of 2014.
Bangladesh outpaced UAE, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Vietnam, Ireland, Mexico, China, the UK, Brazil, Canada, Malaysia, Poland, the USA, Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong, Australia,France and Argentina.

“The authorities are introducing more safety regulations to the garments sector and this appears to have provided an additional boost to confidence," the banking giant said in a report.
More than 70 percent of the survey respondents said the outlook for trade volumes will improve over the next six months, with almost 80 percent expecting the currency to have a favourable impact on business growth over this period.

About 40 percent of the respondents said that Europe, Bangladesh's biggest trading partner, offers the best opportunity for business growth over the next six months, while one-third point to Asia and 17 percent to North America.

More than a third of the respondents expect demand in key markets to be higher over the next six months, while more than 16 percent generally feel more confident about the coming months.
On the longer term outlook on Bangladesh, HSBC expects the country to grow rapidly over the remainder of the current decade, and investment, particularly in infrastructure, will continue to rise strongly to support this.

It said industrial machinery is the second largest import sector behind textiles and will continue out to 2030 with the sector contributing almost 20 percent to Bangladesh's import growth. to 141 in the first half of 2014, from 103 in the second half of 2013.