ACI Group expanded investment and hiring even though 2025 emerged as “one of the most devastating years for businesses, especially in the agricultural sector”, said ACI Agribusiness President and Managing Director FH Ansarey.
The conglomerate of 22 entities, generating over a billion US dollars in annual turnover, raised new recruitments by more than 7.5 per cent this year, highlighting a rare counter-trend to widespread retrenchment and stagnant hiring across industries.
In a recent interview, he told TIMES of Bangladesh that macroeconomic stability had been a priority for the current administration, and it managed to slightly ease the high inflation.
But lagging wage growth eroded consumers’ purchasing power and caused a significant sales slump, particularly for small and medium enterprises.
To recap 2025, he said businesses were simultaneously grappling with a severe financing crunch as lending rates climbed to as high as 15.5 per cent, while ongoing gas and power shortages continued to disrupt production schedules in key industries.
He also pointed to bureaucratic hurdles, saying “issues related to value-added tax, compliance and trade licensing remained tedious and cumbersome.”
For many entrepreneurs, especially those anchored in agribusiness, he said “2025 was undoubtedly one of the most devastating years,” describing it as a “perfect storm of systemic failure” that went far beyond a general economic slowdown.
He said the factors were acute, with political uncertainty combined with a severe financial crisis making investment decisions impossible.
Crucially, he said the agricultural sector’s own growth fell sharply to barely 1.79 per cent in FY25, a major drag given that the sector employs more than 40 per cent of the national workforce.
The low output coincided with inflation remaining at higher single or even double-digit levels, meaning input costs, including those for fertiliser, fuel and feed, rose dramatically.
But farmers struggled to get fair returns for their produce due to market exploitation and a lack of cold storage facilities.
Looking back, he said other painful periods included the intense unrest of 2013–2015 and crippling global trade halt during the pandemic time lockdown in 2020.
On top of the business challenges, the prevailing sense of political and policy insecurity was hurting businesses immensely and had become the “single biggest factor behind the ‘wait-and-see’ approach among both foreign and domestic investors.”
“When there is no clear policy continuity, fresh capital does not enter the market, and private investment remains subdued.”
Political disruptions in the year alone led to estimated business losses of up to 10 per cent in some sectors, he said, adding that the insecurity was compounded by persistent agricultural challenges that triggered supply chain disruptions and high food price inflation.
He said instability in agriculture, driven by factors such as climate change and inadequate storage, put pressure on all businesses through increased operating costs and reduced consumer spending power, while political risk had become a major line item on every business balance sheet.
On reforms, he said the ongoing efforts were not fully on track and were certainly not yet enough to restore strong investment confidence.
He said there had been only a marginal increase in the Bangladesh Business Climate Index, suggesting merely minor stabilisation.
He said two crucial areas were either lacking or lagging, identifying decisive financial sector reforms to tackle the non-performing loan crisis and improve bank governance as the first, and consistent, transparent implementation of policies on the ground with a real commitment to removing pervasive bureaucratic red tape and corruption as the second.
Turning to the outlook, he said the prospects for 2026 offered cautious optimism, noting that the World Bank projects GDP growth will rebound to 4.8 per cent, driven by stabilising external finances and resilient exports.
“However, the real challenges remain structural,” he said, stressing the urgent need to address vulnerabilities in the financial sector caused by high non-performing loans.
The country also faces an imminent need for trade and tax reforms to prepare effectively for the 2026 graduation from least developed country status, he suggested.
“We also need to address the challenge of creating quality jobs for the two million youth entering the labour market every year.”
Against this backdrop, he said ACI Group remained committed to its continuous investment and human capital strategy despite all the challenges.
The group in 2025 expanded its business in strategic areas, and the expansion efforts allowed it to significantly increase job creation, compared to the previous year.
ACI Group’s continued focus on talent acquisition and expansion, particularly in ACI’s agribusiness and consumer brands divisions, was essential to maintaining market share and positioning the group for the anticipated economic recovery in 2026, he explained the need for building human capital.
