Country’s export earnings in last eight months of current fiscal (FY20) stood at $26.24 billion, indicating a positive sign amid worldwide coronavirus panic. This earning decreased by only 4.79 percent compared to that in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal of $27.56 billion, according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.
International experts said coronavirus that has already emerged as a threat to the global supply chain is likely to affect the global overall economy in many ways. Director of the International Trade and Commodities Division of the United Nations Trade and Development Board Pamela Cook-Hamilton said, “The decline in Chinese output had a multiplier effect on International Economy. It has reached by almost 37 percent or nearly $50 billion in exports worldwide in February.”
President of the World Bank David Robert Malpass said, the World Bank is developing a vision to drive the economic growth of developing countries. He said, “We will begin this month to implement our plan to improve the economy affected by the coronavirus.” When contacted, World Bank’s former lead economist, Dr Zahid Hussain, told The Bangladesh Post, “The coronavirus outbreak is already having significant economic impacts globally.”
Bangladesh should diversify export partners and funding sources beyond China to avoid negative impact, he added. Zahid informed, “Most of the country’s industrial raw materials and capital machinery is imported from China, and disruption of travel between the two countries would affect supply of raw materials to the export sector, which has been showing falling trend for the last several months.”
“Many consumer products, both cheap and expensive, are imported from China; and a prolonged outbreak would surely have a negative impact on the supply of these consumer products to the local market,” he mentioned. Thus, it will be a mistake to underestimate the impact of disrupted imports of intermediate inputs and capital machinery on production, trade and investment in Bangladesh, he added.
However, official data shows export earnings from readymade garments, which account for almost 84 percent of the total export earnings, went down by 5.53 percent to $21.84 billion during the July-February period of the current fiscal from $23.12 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Besides, the plastic sector witnessed a negative growth amounting to $75.42 million during the time, which was 1.8 percent lower during the same period of previous fiscal. The leather sector needs special care for a rebound as it is facing huge difficulties to compete in the global market.
Export earnings from this sector stood at $631.89 million during July-February in FY2020, which was 9.04 percent lower than that in the same period of the previous fiscal. During the first eight months of FY19, the figure was $694.72 million. Besides, ceramic products, wool and woolen products and frozen and live fish also witnessed a negative growth during the period.
On the other hand, export earnings from agricultural products stood at $667.36 million during the time, up by 3.83 percent over $642.73 million earned in the same period of the previous fiscal. Meanwhile, export earnings from jute and jute goods, engineering equipment, rubber and handicrafts, also saw a positive growth. The figures were $697.63 million, $43.09 million, $20.56 million and $15.01million respectively.
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