The country’s exports registered more than 5% growth in February from the same month last year, riding on the robust garment sector.
In February, Bangladesh earned $2.5bn compared to $2.38bn last year, showed Export Promotion Bureau data released yesterday.
However, the exports witnessed 14.8% decline from the last month as in January the figure was $2.88bn.
The data also showed the exports reached $20.31bn in first eight months of the current fiscal with 2.43% growth from the same period last year.
During the period in last fiscal year, the export earnings were $19.83bn.
But the exporters say the bad news still awaits for the Bangladesh export sector. They said the impact of the current political instability would be visible in next month.
“This growth doesn’t make us happy as the bad news is still ahead. The ongoing political unrest will start casting a negative impact on the exports in the upcoming month,” Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of Exporters Association of Bangladesh, told Dhaka Tribune.
He said the growth was possible as the exporters chose air shipment to ensure the supply of goods as the countrywide transport blockade continued for the past two months without any break.
He said it was also possible as the government had provided security with law enforcers to the goods-carrying vehicles.
“But our competitors are making faster growth. So we have to do more to maintain competitiveness,” Abdus Salam, also managing director of Envoy Textiles, said.
Vice president of garment owners association BGMEA Shahidullah Azim said the growth was expected 7%.
He thinks if the supply chain was normal, the growth could have been higher than the achievement.
In July-February period, the country’s apparel export earnings increased 2.56% to $16.55bn, which was $16.14bn in the same period last fiscal year.
The knitwear exports during the period stood at $8.13bn with a 2,88% growth, while woven goods earned $8.41bn registering a 2.25% rise over the previous year’s earnings.
Among the other major sectors, tea exports grew 35%, followed by rubber 10.6%, footwear 22.16%, handicraft 15.6%, jute and jute goods 6.40% and bicycle 30%.
But frozen foods marked negative growth by 6.32%, followed by vegetables 10%, pharmaceuticals 2.332%, leather 19.30%, specialised textile 15.27%, ceramic products 8.7% and furniture 13%.
