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But alongside that, there are other issues. “Yes, GDP has grown, but that’s misleading, because one of the main drivers of growth is investment — private and foreign investment. And that hasn’t increased.”

She questioned how employment can grow without investment.

And in the past year, there has not been the expected investment.

“Many other economic activities have also been disrupted in various ways. Some factories have come under attack, some have shut down. As a result, production has been hampered. That’s why we see that GDP projections are now lower; GDP growth has slowed,” she said.

“At this point, we’re stuck in a kind of low-level equilibrium: GDP growth is down, inflation is gradually declining, but investment isn’t increasing. Even though they say it’s rising slightly, it was already extremely low before, so that tiny increase doesn’t mean anything,” Khatun said.

On top of that, the law-and-order situation has deteriorated, the cost of doing business remains high due to infrastructure weaknesses, high energy and fuel prices, and persistent corruption — all of this hasn’t improved.

“Because inflation is high, the government and Bangladesh Bank are sticking to contractionary monetary policy, which has pushed interest rates up.”