Bangladesh's monthly exports crossed the one-billion-dollar mark for the first time in May, according to government data released Wednesday. The latest export figures showed Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest nations, has fared well under the new textile quota-free regime, contrary to gloomy forecasts before the system was introduced, manufacturers said.
May exports jumped by 26.61 percent to 1.04 billion dollars from the same month a year earlier, powered by an "impressive performance" by factories making readymade garments, the government's Export Promotion Bureau said.
Readymade garments account for around 75 per cent of total exports. "This is the first time in our history that the country's exports have clocked one billion dollars in a single month," bureau statistics director Monoj Kumar Roy told AFP.
Exports for the first 11 months of the fiscal year to end June climbed by 20.89 percent to 9.41 billion dollars from the same period a year earlier.
During that same period exports of readymade garments grew by 24 percent to hit 7.04 billion dollars, the export office said.
"Our exports are growing at an impressive rate and I think that trend will continue for the next few years," said Fazlul Haq, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
In the first 11 months, exports of knitwear such as T-shirts and sweaters, grew 33.9 per cent to 3.40 billion dollars while exports of woven garments, such as trousers and jeans, rose by 13.27 per cent to 3.65 billion dollars. Bangladesh has over 4,200 garment factories which have been enjoying boom time since the end of global textile quotas. But a number of these outlets are notorious for low pay and poor safety standards.