Bangladesh will miss this year’s apparel export target as foreign buyers are passing orders to other countries due to the political turmoil in the country, a top industry leader said. “The shutdown and blockade has created multifarious negative impacts on the sector, posing a serious threat to achieving garments export target set for the current fiscal,” Atiqul Islam, President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association (BGMEA) said this while speaking at a discussion in the city on Tuesday.The discussion titled “Regulatory challenge for trade and investment” was organized by Policy Research Institute (PRI).Dr Zaidi Sattar, Chairman of PRI made opening remarks where Dr. Sadiq Ahmed, Vice-Chairman, PRI presented the keynote paper. Expressing concern over the ongoing political impasse, Atiqul Islam said, the present situation in the country’s political arena is forcing foreign buyers to shift orders to other countries. Besides, the industry owners could not send the apparel goods to buyers within the stipulated time further risking cancellation of export orders.”The nationwide blockade has also affected our production and shipment sending negative message about Bangladesh’s RMG business to the foreign buyers. The government is providing police protection to carry the goods to and from Chittagong port to keep export and import businesses normal, but buyers are considering the situation abnormal,” he said.He also said that if the situation continues, the export target would not be achieved.The garments export target has been fixed at $26.9 billion, up 10 per cent from previous year’s $24.5 billion when shipment surged by 14 per cent.Atiqul Islam urged the political parties to declare the readymade garment (RMG) sector and its forward and backward linkage industries, and export import supply chain, free from strike or blockade.Dr SA Samad, Vice-Chairman of Board of Investment (BoI) and Abdul Huq, Director of FBCCI, also spoke on the occasion. The speakers said that inadequate Infrastructure and political instability are two major constraints for the country’s investment growth.”Increasing investment to the desired level appears to be a formidable challenge and requires major effort to improve the investment climate, especially to attract more FDI,” they added.
