Bangladesh's export earnings have risen in the first half of the current fiscal year, beginning July 1, compared to the same period in the previous financial year. .
According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh earned $14.91 billion during July-December period of the 2014-15 FY from exports of goods and services.
The figure is 1.56 percent higher than the earnings in the corresponding period of the previous FY..
Export earnings grew by 4.33 percent in December over the same month in the last FY.
EPB Vice-chairman Shubashish Bose is hopeful of reaching the $33.2-billion export target for the current FY.
He told bdnews24.com: “Growth (in export earnings) was in the negative at the beginning of the current FY. Exports started to increase from November. We hope the target can be reached.”
Bangladesh had earned $30.19 billion in 2013-14 FY, registering around 12 percent growth over the previous FY, despite the fallout of the devastating Tazreen Fashions fire, the Rana Plaza collapse and the violent political turmoil preceding the last national polls..
But the worry is political unrest coming back in the New Year after a relatively peaceful 2014..
Economists said the unrest may threaten exports.
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) Research Director Zaid Bakht said: “Not only exports, other indexes of the economy may be affected if the unrest that has started in the New Year continues.”
But, he said, exports would increase further if political stability prevailed for the rest of the year.
Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) President AKM Selim Osman, however, believes the political unrest ‘will be over soon’.
