Building Trust as a Strategic Economic Asset for Bangladesh

The Business Standard has identified trust as Bangladesh’s next potential competitive advantage, arguing that confidence shapes whether customers, investors, employees and commercial partners are prepared to choose a business. The argument has particular relevance to an economy under pressure from rising production costs and stronger international competition, including in the readymade garment sector. The central economic question is whether credibility can support higher-value production rather than merely preserve Bangladesh’s existing position in global markets.

Trust as an economic asset

The Business Standard’s analysis presents trust as part of market infrastructure rather than a communications accessory. A credible reputation can shorten sales negotiations, make partnerships easier and reduce the perceived risk of trying a new product. A weak reputation forces an otherwise capable company to keep proving its claims, imposing a recurring cost that does not appear directly on a balance sheet.

The article cites the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report on brands, which found that 88% of respondents regarded trust as an important or critical purchase criterion, almost level with quality and value. That does not establish that trust has replaced price, quality or value. It indicates that these attributes increasingly operate through confidence: buyers must first decide whose claims they are prepared to believe.

Investment data point in the same direction. According to the 2026 World Intangible Investment Highlights cited by The Business Standard, investment in software, data, research, design, brands and organisational knowledge exceeded $10 trillion in 2025. Since 2008, such investment has grown more than three times faster than investment in machinery, buildings and other physical assets.

For Bangladesh, the structural implication is a change in the basis of competition. Manufacturing capacity remains necessary, but equipment and production volume alone do not determine who captures the final value. Companies and countries with stronger customer relationships, market knowledge and reputations may be better placed to retain that value after goods leave the factory.

Garments expose the pressure

The immediate pressure is visible in Bangladesh Bank’s quarterly review of the apparel sector, as reported by The Daily Star. Garment exports rose 11% year on year to $10.10 billion during the April-June quarter. Total apparel export earnings for FY26, however, stood at $38.97 billion, up only 1% from the previous year.

The central bank also reported that the sector’s share of nominal GDP declined to 7.82% in FY26 from 8.52% a year earlier. Its net-export measure, calculated by subtracting the value of raw-material imports from garment exports, rose to 62% from 57%. Together, the figures show an industry generating additional export value without producing a corresponding increase in its share of the economy.

The quarterly improvement was not evenly distributed. Bangladesh Bank said knitwear exports increased 10% year on year, helped by a temporary recovery in international demand, stronger shipments to major markets and favourable timing around Eid-ul-Azha. Woven garment earnings grew 12%, following renewed shipments to major Western markets, particularly the United States.

Demand conditions remained fragile. Weak European Union apparel demand and increased competition constrained the sector, while exports to non-traditional markets stayed subdued. More resilient US and Canadian markets provided an offset, but shipments to the nine largest destinations still represented 72% of Bangladesh’s garment exports, leaving performance closely tied to a relatively concentrated group of markets.

Bangladesh Bank’s near-term assessment was moderately positive, supported by global apparel demand, the country’s international competitive position and improvements in sustainability and compliance standards. At the same time, it identified export diversification, value-added production and higher productivity as crucial to growth and resilience.

What to watch next

Trust should not be treated as a substitute for the central bank’s stated economic tests. The available evidence does not quantify a separate trust premium for Bangladesh’s exports. It does, however, indicate where reputation may affect commercial outcomes: the perceived dependability of suppliers, the strength of customer relationships and the credibility of compliance and product claims.

A durable improvement should therefore be measured through more than one quarter’s export growth. Bangladesh Bank attributed part of the latest quarterly rise to base effects and shipment timing rather than a sustained recovery in global demand. Future reviews should be examined for progress in export diversification, value-added production, productivity, production costs and demand across both traditional and non-traditional markets.

The near-term test is whether Bangladesh can convert credibility, compliance and product differentiation into steadier demand while containing costs. Until the data demonstrate that combination across markets and reporting periods, trust remains a strategic requirement for competitiveness, not a separately measurable source of export growth.