Exports rise 1.39 percent in May on garment, miss target

Bangladesh's exports rose 1.39 percent year-on-year to $3.07 billion in May.

Abdur Rahim Badal Chief Economics Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 6 June 2017, 03:26 PM
Updated : 6 June 2017, 03:26 PM

The garment sector that accounts for 80 percent of shipments contributed most to export growth as usual, but failed to push much high. May's exports missed the target by 8.52 percent.

Sluggish growth raised concerns over the prospects of Bangladesh keeping up 10 percent annual growth.

Exports in the July-May period accelerated 3.67 percent to around $31.8 billion, according to data released by the Export Promotion Bureau on Tuesday.

But it missed the target by 4.68 percent, with only one month of the outgoing fiscal year in hand.

The export target for this fiscal year was set at $37 billion, which means the country will have to post around $5.2 billion exports in June alone to meet the target.

Bangladesh exported $34.25 billion of goods in fiscal 2015-16, registering 9.72 percent growth.     

The garment sector earned $27.38 billion in July-May with 2.21 percent growth, the data shows.

The target, however, was missed by around 6.5 percent, with the knitwear sector posting a 2.16 percent rise while earnings from woven garment exports dropped 0.33 percent.

Leather exports dropped by 10.31 percent but leather goods earned 19 percent growth. 

In his speech for the proposed budget for fiscal 2017-18, Finance Minister AMA Muhith mentioned that the $29 billion exports in the July-April period are around 78 percent of the annual target.

"Multifarious adverse conditions in international market have created slight pressure on RMG export," he cited as the reason for faltering export growth.

Muhith said exports to the European Union improved significantly.

"I believe exports to the US market will also increase considerably with accelerated economic recovery in the US."