Bangladesh’s export earnings in the first month (January) of 2021 declined by around 5 per cent year-on-year to US $ 3.43 billion from what was US $ 3.61 billion in the same month of 2020.
This is as per the figures released by the country’s Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) on 2 February (Tuesday).
Apparels, which account for 84 per cent of the export receipts, raked in around US $ 2.9 billion, down about 4.7 per cent from a year earlier consequent to the buyers in the West placing orders gingerly claimed media reports even as restrictions to curb the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, reportedly, continue in many countries in the West.
The EPB data also shows export earnings in December 2020 fell by 6.11 per cent to US $ 3.31 billion from that of US $ 3.52 billion in the same month of the preceding year.
However, with the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, apparel exporters are hoping for better days ahead!
We are hoping for better earnings in the coming months as the Western countries have started vaccination, reportedly, maintained Managing Director of Snowtex Group, SM Khaled while underlining that factories are running with less capacities and buyers were going slow with placing orders for the next season.
Khaled is, reportedly, of the opinion that it might take more or less a year-and-a-half for exports to reach the pre-pandemic level even as the former lead economist of the World Bank’s Dhaka office, Zahid Hussain, on his part, reportedly, stated that ‘this was expected and nothing unusual’ while adding if Biden administration implements the proposed US $ 1.9 trillion pandemic aid package, it would be good for Bangladesh, as around 17.7 per cent of Bangladesh’s exports are headed to the US, he said.
Reports further added that to reach this fiscal year’s export target of US $ 41 billion, US $ 18.3 billion has to be earned from shipments in the remaining five months as January’s receipts take the export earnings in the first seven months of fiscal 2020-21 to US $ 22.7 billion, down by around 1.1 per cent from a year earlier.
