Today we are excitedly waiting to celebrate the 50th Victory Day of Bangladesh, which is undoubtedly a proud and glorified moment for all of us as a nation. From a war-ravaged country with a shattered economy, Bangladesh is now a “basket full of wonders”.
Our dearest homeland has obtained such growth momentum along with mentionable achievements, that, whether it is a miracle or a surprise has been on the discussion among the global community for several years. As our nation celebrates its 50th year of independence, Bangladesh has become a developing country from LDC and aspires to be a developed nation by 2041.
Our socio-economic progress, human development indicators and achievements of MDGs are widely acclaimed. Especially in the last 13 years under the visionary leadership of our Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has become a global model of development.
Our per capita income has reached $2,554 from $676 in the FY 2008-2009, poverty rate declined to 20.5%, our total trade balance increased from $38 billion to $82 billion during the same time. Foreign exchange reserve is crossing the records every month which is now at $43.10 billion. Much of this development has been propelled by industrialization as the industry’s contribution to GDP has increased from 17.31% in FY1980-81 to 35.36% in FY2019-20.
One of the few industries that has flourished with the emergence of Bangladesh as a development surprise is the ready-made garment sector. Starting its journey in the early ‘80s, this sector has contributed immensely to our economic growth and prosperity through creating employment, earning foreign currency and women empowerment.
As of today, around 4 million people are directly and another 10 million are indirectly dependent on this sector for their lives and livelihood. Among this huge workforce, around 2.5 million are women. For a male dominated country like Bangladesh, where decision making power usually comes with the earning capability, the RMG sector has brought a revolution here.
The job gives them ample opportunity to enjoy the taste of economic freedom and liberty, which, in terms, act as a catalyst behind the overall economic and social development.
Containing a lion’s share (83%) of our total export, Bangladesh RMG industry has earned $34.13 billion in the FY 2019-20. Even though the pandemic lowered the growth momentum, in the recent months export has started to rebound as a result of the mass vaccination and coping up with the “new normal”.
While as a primary industry the textile and RMG is helping our economy to develop a solid foundation, the wider transaction (beyond export earnings, and wage and other input bills) is enormous. In a word, the ready-made garment industry is playing the role of our economic backbone, while the sector has so much more to contribute given its potential in the global market.
The fact that amazes all of us is Bangladesh does neither grow cotton, nor is an integrated producer of textiles and apparel, but we have already become the second largest apparel exporting country in the world.
The unparalleled entrepreneurial spirit and the dedication and determination of millions of our workers, along with the policy support from the government and endorsement from the brands are all behind our success story.
Today, the tag “Made in Bangladesh” is being retailed in 167 countries across the globe with pride. Through the committed efforts and investments in the past few years, Bangladesh is now considered to be one of the safest apparel manufacturing countries worldwide.
Our clothing factories are not only safer now, but also have become more dynamic, modern, energy-efficient and environment-friendly. Bangladesh is the home to the most LEED green factories in the world. We now have 152 LEED green factories (Certified by USGBC) of which 44 are platinum and 94 are gold rated. 40 out of the global top 100 LEED green factories are in Bangladesh. Around 500 factories are in the pipeline to get their certification.
These are state of the art factories, equipped to save energy and natural resources, having facilities like rainwater harvesting and daylight saving, and having a healthy and hygienic atmosphere. So Bangladesh is showing its sincere commitment when it comes to safety and sustainability.
But this journey was never smooth and the industry has gone through many hard times. This industry has proved its resilience and definitely has established itself as a time-tested one through the challenging situations like child labor elimination, MFA quota phase-out, tragic building collapse accident, compliances issues and the latest one, pandemic of the Century - Covid-19.
Covid has posed an unprecedented challenges before all of us and never in its history has the Bangladesh RMG industry gone through a disaster of this scale. However, with the support from the Bangladesh government, brands, workers and relevant stakeholders, we have passed through the dire moment expecting to be at the end of the dark tunnel.
We have to keep in mind that, in the post Covid world, putting a mask on our face and maintaining the standard social distance is not the only thing that we have to cope with but also it is absolutely necessary to redefine our business model. To perform well in this new normal situation, we need to emphasize sustainable trading system and buyer-suppliers relationship. With only 6.26% share in the global market, Bangladesh RMG has huge potential and we need aggressive investment efforts with special focus for developing the backward linkage industry and diversification to tap that.
The paradox is that globally the share of cotton textile and clothing consumption is 25% only, whereas 75% of Bangladesh’s RMG product is concentrated within cotton items. Out of 433 spinning mills in Bangladesh, only 27 mills produce synthetic and acrylic yarn, and the rest are cotton spinning mills.
The share of 5 core items - trousers, T-shirts, blouses, sweaters and underwear - is 82.04%. There is huge demand for items like active-wear, athleisure, suits and high end formal-wear, outerwear, lingerie in the global market, but sourcing from Bangladesh remains minimal, meaning that we have a huge scope to explore and invest in these value added items.
We also have opportunities in terms of exploring new and emerging markets. Major markets such as Australia, Japan, South Korea, Russia, India, China and even the middle eastern countries like United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are the highly potential markets for Bangladesh that remain largely untapped.
There is no doubt that Bangladesh is going forward with tremendous progress. Visionary and prudent leadership of our Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is guiding us on the way to fulfill the “Vision 2041” and achieve excellence.
However, there are some areas which we should consider with immense importance in the upcoming days, since these are very crucial for creating an enabling environment for the envisioned growth of our economy and sustain the momentum that we have achieved.
Tackling these areas with utter importance will help us to transition towards a knowledge-based economy, from manufacturing to service oriented one, from OEM to OBM and from imitation to innovation.
Further improving the overall status of ease of doing business, stability in policies and regulation, enhancing our economic complexity, capacity building of our energetic workforce, more investments and efforts in the area of branding our own action and nations will help us to fulfil the dream of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to establish “Sonar Bangla” which will be free from hunger, poverty, corruption, illiteracy, communalism and ignorance.
Faruque Hassan, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA)