Bangladesh's exports grow 6.67% in FY23

Exports from Bangladesh grew 6.67 per cent year-on-year and reached $55.55bn in the outgoing fiscal FY23, riding on the extraordinary performance of the apparel sector, according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data released on Monday, TBS reports.

With the latest addition, the merchandise export earnings crossed the milestone of $50 bn for the second consecutive year. The earnings were $52.08 billion in last fiscal.

The FY23 earnings, however, fell 4.28 per cent short of the $58bn target amid lukewarm global demand, economic turmoil, geopolitical crisis, and inflationary pressures.

In the single month of June FY23, the country earned $5.03bn, up 2.51 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year.

"We are making all-out efforts to diversify apparel products and explore new markets to achieve double-digit growth defying global economic slowdown," said Faruque Hassan, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

Mentioning that the inclusion of high-value items in the country's apparel goods is working as a driving force, he told that exports to new markets, such as Japan, Korea, India and non-traditional ones, are contributing a lot to the export growth.

EPB data shows that apparel exports surged by 10.27 per cent year-on-year to $46.99bn in FY23, where woven apparel contributed $21.25bn with a 9.56 per cent growth and knitwear $25.74bn with a 10.87 per cent rise.

The earnings from apparel items were 0.41 per cent higher than the $46.80bn target set for FY23.