Bangladesh's 2015-16 fiscal exports hit all-time yearly high of over 34 bln USD

Xinhua News Agency

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Bangladesh exports inched up 10 percent to 34.24 billion U.S. dollars in the just concluded 2015-16 (July 2015-June 2016) fiscal year.

With the final months' robust income growths, Bangladesh reached the highest export earnings in 2015-16 fiscal year, said an Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) official Thursday.

The EPB official who did not like to be named told Xinhua that "2015-16 fiscal year exports reached 34,241.82 million U.S. dollars, setting a new record."

With 3.58 billion U.S. dollars export earning in June, up 16.74 percent over the same period a year ago, the official said the country's overall export earnings in the last fiscal year also exceeded the target of 33.50 billion U.S. dollars by 2.21 percent.

Bangladesh's export income in the previous 2014-15 fiscal year (July 2014-June 2015) was registered at 31.21 billion dollars.

As always the growth in 2015-16 fiscal year largely attributed to demand for ready-made garments.

Bangladesh's earnings from garment exports, which make up more than three fourths of the country's annual incomes since the beginning of this decade, surged to 28 billion dollars in 2015- 16 fiscal year, according to EPB.

The EPB data showed knitwear garment export grew 7.47 percent to 13,355.42 million dollars while woven garments increased 12.81 percent to 14,738.74 million dollars, comparing with the same period of last fiscal.

Although the ready garment sector has flourished at a rapid scale, the EPB official said, many other traditional major exportable items, like frozen foods, home textiles, leather and leather products and footwear, could not perform well in the last fiscal year.

Bangladeshi Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed Thursday expressed the hope that Britain's exit from the European Union and the latest terror attack in Dhaka will not affect the export business of Bangladesh.

He said this at a press conference which was arranged to announce export target for the current fiscal year.

After achieving a 9.72 percent export growth in the immediate past fiscal, he said, "We've surged its export target by 8 percent to 37 billion for the current 2016-17 fiscal year (July 2016-June 2017). "

(APD)