Tk 15 per liter fuel price hike by the Bangladesh govt. will increase the costs of doing business. Bangladesh’s backbone of its export earning industry i.e. the textile and apparel industry will be greatly affected and its competitiveness in the global market will be hampered.
Sectors leaders opined their frustration as the readymade garment (RMG) just started bouncing from yearlong COVID-19 trauma, getting substantial work orders.
Whereas this hike of diesel and kerosene will be added to the existing problems like rising in raw materials prices, ever-increasing cotton and yarn price and freight fares.
Muhammad Shahadat Hossain Siddiquee, Professor of Economics at the University of Dhaka said to the media that due to this hike manufacturing and export industries will also be hampered.
When garment workers and transporters will demand wage hikes due to the price hike of commodities, it may create tension in the economy, he added.
BKMEA leaders said knitting and dying of the local knitwear sub-sector run on diesel due to a lack of constant and electricity supply – at the same time factories will pay higher transport – meaning this extra cost will be added to already skyrocketing yarn price.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Vice President Mohammad Shahidullah Azim said to media that business costs would be higher now as many factories are running on diesel-run generators. And transportation costs would also go up ominously, he said.
Azim worryingly expressed that RMG makers might not make timely shipment, he added, as it is already in a disadvantageous position due to its long lead time.
RMG leaders dreading that this recent revival of the sector will bear little fruit as fuel price hike will bring further dangers for any letdown to timely export defying all the odds.
