Bangladesh’s exports increased by 7.4
percent in March from a year earlier to $2.59 billion, increasing for a fifth
straight month, driven by stronger sales of ready-made garments, official data
showed on Tuesday.
Exports from July to March, the first
three quarters of the financial year, rose nearly 3 percent from the same
period a year earlier to $22.9 billion, 5 percent short of the target, the
Export Promotion Bureau said.
Sales of ready-made garments, comprising
knitwear and woven items, totalled $18.63 billion in the July-March period,
compared with nearly $18.05 billion a year earlier.
Garments are a vital sector for the
South Asian nation, whose low wages and duty-free access to Western markets
have helped make it the world’s largest apparel exporter after China.
However, political unrest over the past
few months could cast a pall over the garment industry, which has already been
under pressure after factory accidents, including the collapse of a building
housing factories in April 2013 that killed more than 1,130 people.
Exporters said achieving growth target
would not be possible.
“Buyers are expressing their concern
over the current political violence. They are ready to give us more orders but
political uncertainty preventing them from placing more orders,” Shahidullah
Azim, vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters
Association, said.
Bangladesh’s exports in the 2014-15
financial year are expected to rise 10 percent from a year earlier to $33.2
billion.
Garment exports for the current
financial year have been targeted at $26.9 billion, up 10 percent from previous
year’s $24.5 billion when clothing sales surged 14 percent.
“It won’t be possible to achieve the
growth target for this current fiscal year,” Azim said. (Source: Reuters)