Published : 02 Sep 2026, 03:59 AM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:37 AM
Bangladesh's export earnings have increased in August amid ongoing gas and power crisis.
The country earned more than $4.43 billion from commodity exports during this month, which is 13.14 percent higher than the same period last year.
The figure, however, represents a 6.30 percent decline compared with July, the first month of the financial year.
The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) released this updated export earnings report on Tuesday.
It shows that overall exports in August grew primarily on the back of readymade garments.
Exporters in this sector earned $3.61 billion from garment exports during the month, nearly 14 percent higher than in August last year.
However, exporters are not at all happy with this growth.
BKMEA Executive President Fazlee Shamim Ehsan told bdnews24.com, "We were surprised to see export earnings rise in August.
“A severe gas crisis began on Jul 21. Owing to the gas shortage, local spinning mills were practically closed.
“During this period, we received no fabric from the mills. We could not manufacture garments, nor could we export them."
He added, "Upon verifying the EPB data later, I saw that export earnings in August last year were much lower -- at $3.91 billion. That is why there was growth.
"If we do the real calculation, we will see that in August 2025, earnings dropped by 3 percent compared with August 2024. The growth this August has come from that lower base. So you can understand how this growth happened."
"While this shows growth on paper, the question remains: how much have we actually gained in reality?" said Ehsan.
The business leader said if the gas and electricity issues are not resolved, the coming months will head towards a worse situation.
