Export growth dwarfed by unending unrest
FE Report | Thursday, 5 February 2015
Country's export earnings posted a marginal growth in January over that of the previous month amid nonstop countrywide blockade and a series of strikes sponsored by a political coalition.
Bangladesh fetched US$2885.15 million from shipment of merchandise products last month (January), which reflected a 1.44 per cent increase over that of $2844.13 million in December 2014, according to data released by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) Wednesday.
The total export earnings in January 2015, almost the entire month of which the country experienced ceaseless blockade and periodical general strikes (hartal), posted a 4.77 per cent growth over that of the same month of 2014, the EPB figures showed.
However, the country's overall export receipts during the first seven months (July-January) period of the current fiscal posted a 2.06 per cent increase to nearly $17.80 billion over the corresponding months of last fiscal.
The export earnings totaled $17.44 billion in the July-January period of the FY 2013-14.
The official data also revealed that the total export receipts during the seven months of this fiscal fell short of the strategic target by 4.19 per cent.
Of the total, the earnings from knitwear products amounted to $7.177 billion in last July-January period, reflecting a 2.62 per cent rise over that of $6.994 billion in the same period of the FY 2013-14.
On the other hand, woven garments fetched $7.266 billion during the July-January period, with a 1.22 per cent growth over that in the same period of last fiscal, the official figures showed.
Among the major exportable, earnings from leather and leather goods increased 2.89 per cent to $ 671.21 million during the July-January period compared to $652.38 million in the matching period of last fiscal.
Jute and jute goods bagged $499.70 million in the first seven months of the current fiscal, up by 7.19 per cent from that in the same period of last fiscal.
On the other hand, export earnings from frozen foods declined 5.05 per cent to reach 409.11 million during the last July-January period while that of vegetables fell nearly 8.0 per cent over the corresponding period of last fiscal.
smjahangirfe@gmail.com