EPB finalises $33.2bn export target today

A meeting to be presided over by Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed at EPB auditorium will finalise the target which is 8.85% higher than that of the last year’s earning

Export Promotion Bureau will finalise $33.2bn export target today for the fiscal year 2014-15 with an aim to earn $27.5bn from the nation’s garment sector after making a change to its previous draft of $34.2bn.

A meeting to be presided over by Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed at EPB auditorium will finalise the target which is 8.85% higher than that of the last year’s earning.

“Commerce minister will fix the target of export despite global odds and uncomfortable situation of US market in regaining GSP facility of local export,” an EPB official told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

In the FY2013-14 the country earned $30.17bn posting over 11% growth from the previous year.

However, the figure was short of the target which was $30.5bn.

EPB data showed the export sector failed to reach targets as set in last two years. In 2011-12, the target was $26.5bn, but the earnings amounted to $24.3bn while in FY2012-13 the achievement was $27bn against the target of $28bn.

The country only witnessed a big jump in exports compared to target during the FY2010-11. While the target was $18.5bn, the earnings exceeded $24bn in the year.

The performance could have encouraged the EPB to set bigger targets in the following years.

However, the export sector has continued to grow over the last several years even in the recent time when the country’s biggest foreign exchange earner garment industry faced trouble after the disastrous Rana Plaza incident.

Bangladesh mainly depends on garment, leather, agricultural products, shrimp and jute and jute goods to achieve its export target.

Source: Dhaka Tribune