Large swathes of Bangladesh were left without electricity on Tuesday after a partial grid failure, a government official said, adding that authorities were working to gradually restore the power supply in the country of 168 million people.

The country’s power grid malfunctioned at around 2pm (0800 GMT) on Tuesday, leading to blackouts across 75-80 per cent of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Power Development Board official Shameem Hasan said. “We are trying to restore the system,” Hasan said, adding that utilities were currently producing around 4,500 megawatts (MW) of power, compared to nationwide demand of 14,200 MW. An investigation is underway to ascertain the reason for the grid’s collapse, Hasan said.

Bangladesh’s recent impressive economic growth has been threatened by power shortages since the government suspended operations of all diesel-run power plants to reduce costs for imports as prices have soared. The diesel-run power plants produced about 6 per cent of Bangladesh’s power generation, so their shutdowns cut output by up to 1,500 megawatts.

Earlier this month, Faruque Hassan, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said that the situation is so serious that garment factories are without power now for around 4 to 10 hours a day.

Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest garment exporter after China, and it earns more than 80 per cent of its total foreign currency from exports of garment products each year. Last month, the Asian Development Bank said in a report that Bangladesh’s economic growth would slow to 6.6 per cent from its previous forecast of 7.1 per cent in the current fiscal year.

Weaker consumer spending due to sluggish export demand, domestic manufacturing constraints and other factors are behind the slowdown, it said.