Country’s export earnings in the first half of the current financial year (2018-19) stood at $20.50 billion, up 14.42 per cent on $17.91 billion in the same period of last fiscal year.Export earnings in July-December of FY19 were 9.13 per cent higher than the government-set target of $18.78 billion due to an excellent performance of readymade garment products in the period, according to Export Promotion Bureau data released on Thursday.In December last year, the export earnings stood at $3.42 billion, up only 2.18 per cent on $3.35 billion in the same month of the previous year, the data showed.Experts and exporters said that the overall growth in export earnings was satisfactory and Bangladesh witnessed a turnaround in export earnings in the current fiscal year.‘Overall export earnings growth is good but the EPB data shows concentration to RMG has increased as the growth in earnings from RMG exports is higher than the overall growth,’ Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, told New Age.He suggested structural shift in both within the RMG and beyond to avert any volatility in the export growth.Mustafizur also said that Bangladesh should use its logistics and connectivity to take the opportunity of regional market.RMG export in the first half of FY19 grew by 15.65 per cent to $17.08 billion from $14.77 billion in the same period of FY18.‘We are satisfied with the overall export earnings growth in the first six months of the current financial year but the earnings’ growth was dismal in December, 2018 due to national elections that were held on December 30,’ Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association president Md Siddiqur Rahman told New Age on Thursday.He said that global buyers were cautious in placing orders in Bangladesh before the national elections as they feared violence centring the 11th parliamentary polls in the country.Earnings from woven export in July-December of FY19 grew by 17.48 per cent to $8.43 billion from $7.17 billion in the same period of FY18.Knitwear export fetched $8.65 billion with a 13.92-per cent growth in the first half the current fiscal year. The figure was $7.59 billion in the first half of FY18.Export earnings from agriculture products in the six months of FY19 grew by 66.8 per cent to $517.64 million from $310.34 million in the same period of last fiscal year.The EPB data showed that export earnings from leather and leather products in July-December of FY19 fell by 14.18 per cent to $532.3 million from $620.27 million in the same period of FY18.Export earnings from leather-footwear increased by 5.90 per cent to $325.67 million while leather products fetched $116.07 million with a 46.07-per cent negative growth in the period.Export earnings from jute and jute goods in the first half of FY19 fell by 26.66 per cent to $421.02 million from $574.05 million in the same period of FY18.
