We welcome the extra support announced by the Bangladesh Bank to help textile factories access low cost funds to invest in environmentally friendly technologies and practices.
One fund supplied by the World Bank will provide $300m towards export-oriented industries while the central bank itself will supply $200m from foreign exchange reserves to add to its green banking finance scheme.
It is encouraging to see more attention being given to help garment factories invest for the future. Competitive pressures on this vital sector are inexorably growing, and it is absolutely essential for our economy to give it a lift so it can grow exports at a faster rate.
As business leaders and the prime minister have pointed out, ultimately the industry needs higher prices from buyers to help sustain improvements in safety practices and working conditions and grow output.
New funds are vitally needed now to enable the industry to invest in improving conditions and making its products more attractive, in order to best encourage global buyers to purchase more from Bangladesh.
The benefits of investing in environmentally-friendly factories have been shown to not only lower long-term costs and emissions, but to vastly justify upfront costs by making them more attractive to buyers.
With consumers all around the world demanding leading brands put ever more importance on good working conditions and environmental sustainability, more green factory initiatives are invaluable to enhance the competitiveness of Bangladeshi products in the global marketplace.
The government should also help by securing more land on which new factories can be built to which RMG manufacturers can relocate. Fiscal and tax incentives should be increased to encourage more manufacturers to utilise the new funds to green their operations and to grow and secure future jobs.
