Export earning to achieve target

Naim-Ul-Karim | Published: June 14, 2008 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

The country's export in outgoing fiscal will surpass the $14.50 billion target, first time in its history, as garments showed an extraordinary comeback after a negative growth in the first quarter, a senior official said Friday.

Bangladesh's export in the second and third quarters posted 4.42 per cent and 12.43 per cent growth respectively after 5.37 per cent negative growth in the first quarter.

The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) said Bangladesh is going to make a record export in fiscal 2007-08.

"We are confident of surpassing the export target for the first time," Md Khalilur Rahman, director general of EPB, told the FE.

The country's exports in April were worth over $1.203 billion, highest ever in a single month, to power the first ten months' exports to over $11.65 billion, thanks to increased shipment of garments.

The ten months' exports, however, recorded 14.66 per cent growth or nearly $279 million higher than the figure of July-April period last fiscal.

"We now need to earn less than $3.0 billion to achieve the export target. Export earning in May and June is expected to be more than the required amount," Rahman said.

He said statistics of the last one decade shows that export earning in May and June, last two months of fiscal, marks record high growth over any other month.

Exports in April grew a hefty 37.59 per cent over that of March as both knitwear and woven garments marked 20 per cent and 10 per cent growth respectively in their earning in the first 10 months of the current fiscal over that of the same in the last fiscal year

The country exported garments items, including knitwear and woven, worth $9.21 billion in the first ten months of out-going fiscal. The figure constitutes some 76 per cent of the country's $11.65 billion of export in July-April period.

Chief of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association,Anwar Ul Alam Chowdhury (Parvez) said exports of readymade garments in May were better than April and it would have very good finishing in the final months of outgoing fiscal.

"Our recovery has started gathering pace since October last. We have very good performance since November," he said.

In December, garments showed the first signs of major recovery, pushing the country's six months growth to the positive territory.

The country's export was in the negative territory in the first five months of the fiscal year beginning from July as garments showed poor performance due to the affect of labour unrest and political turmoil in late 2006.

Apart from traditional sources, EPB director general said export earning from non-traditional items increased to some extent creating possibility to achieve export target in the outgoing fiscal.

The government set an ambitious export target of $14.50 billion in fiscal 2007-08, which is an increase of 19.07 per cent over that of previous fiscal.