As far as our exports go, RMG continues to lead the charge for Bangladesh in terms of earnings. While the past year has seen the industry go through its fair share of ups and downs, the spike witnessed last month -- as a result of holiday sales in Western nations -- is definitive proof that our RMG sector is still one of the global players for a reason.
According to data gathered by the Export Promotion Bureau, earnings from RMG stood at a little over $4 billion in November, which is 28% more than that of the previous month. This is indeed excellent progress and there is genuine reason to hope that the trend would continue in the coming months as countries like the US are set to celebrate Christmas and other holidays.
But we need to be cognizant of the fact that such spikes are dependent entirely on demand trends on the part of our export destinations, and as such are entirely incidental. Bangladesh cannot pin its economic ambitions on trends and possibilities alone, especially as an export-reliant nation.
This is where the need for more diversity in our export basket comes into play.
RMG is currently the bedrock of our economy, but relying on one sector alone for such a long time has clearly been detrimental in terms of growth. Even though it is tangentially related to RMG, home textile has rapidly seen an uptick in our exports emerging as a new player in textile production. The same can be said of light engineering products.
We need to start giving these promising new sectors the push they require.
Bangladesh has yet to shed its LDC status but, given that we are on the brink of achieving that, it is high time that both the public and private sector started investing in export diversification without delay.
