Bangladesh aims to raise annual exports to $80bn by 2024

Bangladesh aims to take annual exports to $80 billion by 2024, according to Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, as he says the government’s efforts to overcome the impacts of the pandemic on the economy will pay off.

The new target has been set after taking global trade circumstances and Bangladesh’s capacity into consideration, he said.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs cleared the draft of a new export policy prepared by the commerce ministry. The document lays down export targets for the three years to 2024.

Bangladesh’s previous export policy set a target of $60 billion, which was not met.

“The new export policy, effective until 2024, has been pushed up from $60 billion to $80 billion,” the finance minister said following the meeting. “We’ll make the necessary changes and adjustments needed to achieve this.

In fiscal 2020-21, Bangladesh fetched $45.37 billion from exporting goods and services. The government set the export target for the fiscal year ending June 2022 at $51 billion, expecting $43.5 billion from the export of goods and $7.5 billion from the services sector.

According to the Export Promotion Bureau, the first six months of the fiscal year saw a new growth record.

Bangladesh exported goods worth $24.69 billion during that period, a 28.41 percent year-on-year jump.

The coronavirus pandemic had caused significant difficulties for exports and imports the previous year.