Bangladesh's exports in August rose 10.7 percent from a year earlier to $3.6 billion, driven by stronger garment sales, official data showed on Sunday. Garments are a key foreign-exchange earner for the South Asian nation, whose low wages and duty-free access to Western markets have helped make it the world's second-largest apparel exporter after China.
Exports for July and August, the first two months of the country's 2017/2018 financial year, rose 13.8 percent from a year earlier to $6.6 billion, the Export Promotion Bureau said. Sales of garments, comprising knitwear and woven items, totalled $5.5 billion in July and August, up 14 percent from a year earlier.
The garment industry, which supplies many Western brands, came under scrutiny after a string of fatal factory accidents, including a 2013 building collapse that killed more than 1,130 people. The government has set an export target of $37.5 billion for the 2017-18 financial year, with ready-made garments earning $30.16 billion.
Exports in the previous financial year that ended in June rose 1.7 percent from a year earlier to $34.7 billion, but that was the slowest growth in 15 years, with garment sales up just 0.2 percent growth. Exporters blamed the lacklustre growth for the previous financial year on a number of factors, including sluggish demand in key markets, structural reforms in the garment sector, a weak euro and appreciation of the local currency against the US dollar.
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