Bangladesh, Aug. 15 -- Does the sharp rise in imports of goods last fiscal year (FY26) reflect a rebound in investment in the country? The answer is no. Though the rise in imports is linked to investment activities, other factors also drive investment. For instance, growth of domestic credit is a key indicator of the domestic investment trend. The export trend may serve as another indicator for tracking investment. Moreover, decomposing imports by value and volume is necessary to understand their link to investment. All these are necessary, especially when monthly or quarterly data on domestic investment is not available.

Advertisement Statistics from Bangladesh Bank showed that credit to the private sector grew modestly by 4.47 per cent...