Businesses confident about demand but cost concerns deepen: Survey

The country's businesses are quite confident about market demand and the prices of their products and services which leaves some space for investment and employment, Bangladesh Business Confidence Survey 2022-23 has revealed.

However, the survey, conducted during last year's September-November period, has raised concerns over the increasing production costs making businesses bleed.

The survey has been conducted by the Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) among 567 firms representing the country's MSME and large firms, both from manufacturing and service sectors.

In its latest edition, the overall business confidence index (BCI) stood at 74.4 on a scale of 0-100, indicating a promising first six months of 2023 for businesses across the country. 

Meanwhile, the index for the overall cost of business was 35.8 for the previous six months found the survey, predicting that the figure will go down to 22.4 in the next six months.

Besides, manufacturers are slightly more optimistic about market demand, order flow and selling price, compared to the service providers. 

In terms of expenses, manufacturing firms were found to be more worried in the survey than businesses related to the service sector.