The coronavirus pandemic has left large swathes of China's factories as desolate as a ghost town. The country's latest official figures released yesterday put the overall death toll at 1,868 and 72,436 infections.

In such a situation, many Bangladesh's manufacturers are left playing a nervous waiting game: will normal service resume anytime soon in China?

Bangladesh imports the most from China, starting from the simplest needle to high-tech capital machinery, industrial raw materials to finished consumer goods and foodstuff.

Last fiscal year, about 26 percent of Bangladesh's imports worth $52.19 billion came from China, according to the central bank's country and commodity wise import data. A year earlier, the share of imports from China was 23.8 percent.

While speaking in parliament yesterday, the prime minister claimed that Bangladesh's economy was currently better than that of Singapore.

"I can at least claim that we are stronger than Singapore in terms of economic progress," she said.

Hasina made the comment after Opposition Leader Raushan Ershad asked how Finance Minister Mustafa Kamal in parliament claimed Bangladesh would cross Singapore in terms of economic progress.

"But I will say that Singapore is a small country with fewer people. The [Singapore] country is a disciplined one. We are a small country but we have more population," she said.

She also said ensuring development in Bangladesh was very tough. "Besides, Singapore has no opposition [party]. There is a state-run newspaper in Singapore. That newspaper is controlled by the government."