Earnings from exports register 9.22% increase

Bangladesh’s export earnings in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year (FY) have risen by 9.22 percent over the figures of the corresponding period in the last FY, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

The country exported goods and services worth $27.63 billion during the July-April period of the FY 2015-16 against $25.30 in the corresponding period the previous year, show EPB data released on Thursday.

The earnings exceeded the target of $27.11 billion set for the period.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith believes Bangladesh exports are gaining as the economies of the US, Europe and other developed nations gather momentum.

In April, export income grew by 11 percent year-on-year.

Bangladesh fetched $2.68 billion from overseas sale of goods and services in the month against the target of $2.67 billion.

Muhith quoted statistics to assert that export earnings have been on a steady rise.

“The figures for the exports earning for the first quarter of the current fiscal was just 0.8 percent. It shot up to 7.8 percent by the end of the second quarter. In 10 months, it has touched about 9.5 percent,” he said.

“By the end of the financial year, the figures will exceed 10 percent”, the minister claimed.

According to data released by the EPB on Thursday, Bangladesh earned $27.63 billion from exports in the first 10 months of the current fiscal, of which $ 22.63 billion came from the export of readymade textile products.

This amounts to over 80 percent of all export earnings during this period.

Analysis of the data reveals that during the July-April period, woven clothes generated the highest income, amounting to around $11.89 billion, while knit clothes generated $10.74 billion during the same period.

During these 10 months, knit textile exports registered a 7.29 percent growth, while woven clothes clocked up a 4.25 percent increase.

The Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) researcher Zaid Bakht told  bdnews24.com, “It was peak season for readymade clothes. There is a demand for readymade clothes in the US and Europe. This explains the increase in the export income.”

He expects the trend to last.

However, the export of other goods and services has declined.

Frozen shrimp exports fell by 13 percent, tea by 39 percent, vegetables by 28 percent, tobacco by 23 percent and fruits by 50 percent.

Exports of plastic also plummeted 13 percent.

Jute and jute product exports, however, managed a marginal increase of 0.78 percent.

Pharmaceutical exports increased by 15 percent during the same period.

Increased exports have swelled the country’s Forex Reserve.

On Wednesday, the Bangladesh Bank’s reserve stood at $29.22 billion, an all-time high so far.