The Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) announced on Thursday that all yarn-producing textile mills across the country will cease operations indefinitely starting February 1, only 11 days before the national elections.
BTMA President Shawkat Aziz Russell made the announcement during a press conference at the association’s Kawran Bazar office in Dhaka, flanked by senior leaders. “From February 1, the factories will remain closed. We have been forced into this decision,” Russell stated, highlighting the sector’s dire financial straits.
“In the current situation, we lack the capacity to repay bank loans. Our capital has diminished by more than half, and even if we sell all our assets, we cannot settle our debts.”
The decision, attributed to a lack of effective government intervention, underscores the mounting frustrations within the vital ready-made garments (RMG) sector, which has been haemorrhaging jobs and factories since the 2024 changeover that ushered in the interim government led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus.
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Russell lambasted the government’s bureaucratic inertia, accusing various ministries and departments of evading responsibility. “We have approached every relevant office, but everyone is just passing the buck like a pillow. No concrete decisions are emerging,” he said, warning that without swift policy support and industry-friendly measures, the entire sector could plunge into an even deeper crisis. The shutdown threatens to disrupt the supply chain for Bangladesh’s RMG industry, which relies heavily on local yarn production and accounts for over 80% of the nation’s exports, valued at around $40 billion annually.
This announcement arrives amid a broader economic downturn that has intensified under the Yunus administration, often criticised for prioritising political purges over economic stabilisation. Since the July 2024 turmoil—marked by widespread mob violence, looting of police stations, and attacks on industrial facilities—the RMG sector has become a symbol of neglect. Factory owners and labour unions have repeatedly decried the regime’s failure to address soaring inflation, disrupted supply chains, and unchecked vandalism, which have compounded pre-existing issues like high energy costs and global market slumps.
In November 2025, Russell publicly excoriated Yunus’s press secretary, Shafiqul Alam, calling him a “madman” for “nonsense talks” that embarrassed the nation and failed to address the crisis. Speaking at a Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association (BGBA) event, Russell highlighted the government’s inaccessibility: “The BGMEA President [Mahmud Hasan Khan] has not had a meeting with the Chief Adviser so far. Then why did you take this responsibility? The games that were played during the previous government have now started again.”
Khan’s repeated requests for a dedicated dialogue on the RMG crisis were rebuffed, reduced to generic sessions like one on Bangladesh’s impending Least Developed Country (LDC) graduation in November 2026. In contrast, foreign entities like SpaceX’s Starlink received prompt high-level access for discussions on a $100 million investment. “When the Vice President of Starlink comes, he is met. But representatives of a $40-billion export sector are not given time,” Khan lamented in a press conference at the time.
The human toll has been devastating. Between January 2024 and March 2025, 113 RMG factories shuttered permanently, displacing 96,000 workers. From August 2024 to March 2025—coinciding with Yunus’s tenure—another 69 closures eliminated 76,504 jobs, while wage protests halted operations at 183 facilities, including hotspots in Savar-Ashulia and Gazipur. Overall, more than 2.1 million jobs vanished in the first half of the interim government’s rule, with 85% affecting women, according to labour unions. An additional 60,000 garment workers were laid off in the nine months ending June 2025, swelling the ranks of the unemployed youth, who already constitute two-thirds of those not in education, employment, or training (NEET).
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Economic indicators reflect the broader fallout. Bangladesh’s GDP growth slumped to 1.81% in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026—the lowest in four years—amid high inflation and supply disruptions. A deepening food crisis has left 16 million people facing severe insecurity by year’s end, exacerbated by factory closures that ripple into rural economies dependent on RMG remittances.
Critics, including opposition voices and international observers, have labelled the Yunus regime’s approach as “callous neglect,” pointing to its focus on operations like “Devil Hunt” to target political rivals rather than rebuilding infrastructure or supporting industries. The BTMA’s shutdown could idle thousands more workers, further straining social safety nets and potentially sparking unrest in an already volatile pre-election atmosphere.
“We are all dying, factories are closing, people are being laid off… The intangible damage is much greater,” Russell had warned in his November outburst, a sentiment that now resonates louder amid the threat of a total textile halt. Government officials have yet to respond to the latest development, but industry leaders urge immediate talks to avert what could be a catastrophic blow to Bangladesh’s economic backbone.
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