Staff Correspondent:

Since the fall of the Awami League government in August last year, the country has been experiencing political instability and disruptions in law and order, leading to a continuous decline in private sector credit growth over the past seven months.

The private sector credit growth in Bangladesh fell to 6.82 % in February, hitting its lowest in 21 years, according to available data.

The Bangladesh Bank data showed that the growth was the lowest since February 2004.

Economists said that the plunge reflected a deepening crisis in the country’s banking and business sector, as credit growth continued to fall for the seventh consecutive month.

The reciprocal tariffs the United States has imposed on Bangladeshi products may deepen the crisis, they said.

The private sector credit growth stood at 7.15%t in January 2025, 7.28 % in December, 7.66% in November, 8.3% in October, 9.2% in September, 9.86 % in August, 10.13 % in July and 9.84 % in June 2024, according to the Bangladesh Bank data.

The downward trend began in November 2022, but the situation worsened amid political uncertainty after the political changeover on 5 August 2024.