Export earnings in July, the first month of the financial year 2015-2016, slumped by 11.96 per cent compared with that in the same month of the last FY as the garment product export nosedived. In July of the FY16 export earnings were $2.62 billion against $2.98 billion in the same month of the previous fiscal year, showed Export Promotion Bureau data. Exporters said the negative growth in July was an ominous sign for the garment sector following a disappointed FY 2014-2015 when export earnings grew by only over 3 per cent. They said that the situation was even more frustrating as the negative earnings growth in this July was based on a negative earnings growth of 1.37 per cent registered in July last year. The 11.96-per cent slump was the worst ever plunge after August in the FY 2012-2013 when the earnings dropped by 17 per cent. EPB data showed the export of readymade garments, the main export item, plunged by 12.03 per cent to $2.21 billion in July from that of $2.51 billion in the same month of the previous fiscal year. Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director Mustafizur Rahman told New Age that the export growth figure of July was ‘abnormal’. ‘I will be able to make full comments after getting through the data as it is a provisional one. I think the negative trend of July is a temporary phenomena as there was Eid holidays in the month, because of which productions in the garment industries remained closed for few days,’ he said. Bangladesh Exporters Association president Abdus Salam Murshedy, however, said the July’s negative trend was a reality as the garment sector was struggling as it was losing ‘competitiveness.’ ‘I have never seen such bad performance in the garment export in last one decade. This is because we are losing competitiveness,’ he said. ‘Rise in wage, additional cost for compliance issue, higher transportation cost compared with that of other countries as the government is yet to reduce fuel oil price, and slump in dollar and euro are main reasons for losing competitiveness for which we are losing orders,’ said Salam, who is also a former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. Garment exporters said the ongoing safety programme in the garment factories and strong growth of the dollar against the taka were affecting the overall scenario.
