Bangladesh's export earnings reached an impressive $29.55 billion in the first 7 months of the current fiscal (2021-22), reflecting the strong economic recovery underway in its main destinations in the West, and putting it on course for a record-breaking year.
Out of total export income, 81.17 percent or $ 24 billion comes from the garments and textile sector.
According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), despite the slowdown in the economic activities at the beginning of the FY 2021-22 due to the surge of Covid-19 infection rate, the entrepreneurs have been able to earn a record volume of foreign currency in the last 7 months by exporting goods.
Export earnings have increased in January this year after November-December last year. This growth has been based on the garment industry, the main export sector of the country.
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Among the two sub-sectors of the garment industry- woven and knit have contributed more. A few years ago, foreign exchange earnings were more from the export of woven garments than from knit. However, since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, the knit has risen, leaving behind woven.
In the first 7 months of FY 22, knit garment exports amounted to $ 13.27 billion which is 32.89 percent compared with the same period of last year. On the other hand, the export of woven garments was $10.71 billion, which is 27.23 percent growth compared with the previous year.
At the same time, home textile exports stood at $830 million, up 30 percent from the same period last year. During July-January, 55.34 percent of the income from garment exports came from knit garments.
For the current fiscal, the government has set a target of earning $51 billion export from goods and services, including $35.14 billion from garment exports.