BD exports up 8 pc on global recovery
Posted: 2010.04.21
Bangladesh’s exports in February rose 8.03 per cent from a year earlier to $1.315 billion as the global economy slowly recovered, the second consecutive rise after two straight months of declines.
Exports for July-February, the first eight months of the 2009/10 fiscal year, were down 3.21 per cent at $10.02 billion from the same period in the previous year, data from the Export Promotion Bureau showed.
The central bank said that exports had stabilised and would return to growth in the second half of the current fiscal year as global demand gradually recovers from the financial crisis.
Orders for clothes, which account for 80 per cent of Bangladesh’s total overseas sales, are growing from its key markets, the United States and Europe.
Earnings from ready-made garments, including knitwear and woven, in July-February slid 5.5 per cent to $7.7 billion from the same period of the previous year.
Late last year, the government announced a second stimulus package worth $145 million to help exporters weather the impact of the global slump. Exports contribute close to a fifth of Bangladesh’s gross domestic product.
