Bangladesh is yet to use its trade potentials in exporting diversified products despite having huge opportunities in the global market, a new report of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.
The report titled “Transforming Bangladesh’s Participation to Trade and Global Value Chains” was published by the ADB at InterContinental Hotel in the capital on Sunday.
According to the report, to make export growth sustainable, the government should add more diversified products to the export basket.
The export income of Bangladesh fully depends on the garment sector, the report said, adding that around 90 percent of the total exports are from the garment sector. Despite the potential, exports of other industrial products are not increasing.
In particular, various exports to Bangladesh including leather and tannery products, pharmaceuticals and footwear industries can be increased, the report mentioned.
“Digital technology should be used in this case. Bangladesh is far behind India and Vietnam in terms of technology usage in the industrial sector. Bangladesh is not able to add much value to the world economy. In this case, one of the reasons is the lag in international integrated production management. Besides, export products are not diversifying,” the report showed.
Besides, Bangladesh is hampered in the import sector due to the high tariff rate. As a result, in the case of making an export product, importing its raw materials is incurring huge production costs. Due to this, Bangladesh is lagging behind in international market competition.
Dr Shamsul Alam, the state minister for planning, said at the programme as the chief guest, “We have given importance to exports in the five-year plan. Our tariffs are too high. It should be negotiated and reduced. Taxes are also higher in some cases, which also needs to be discussed. Our tax GDP ratio is low, and the budget deficit is 6 percent. It should be reduced to 5 percent. We need not only foreign funds but also technical assistance.”
He also said the budget discussion should be more extensive than just one month.
“This discussion is not only in the parliament, but also the parliamentary committee and everyone. NBR needs to be strengthened. Both products and markets have to be diversified,” he added.
In response to the questions of journalists after the meeting, he said if the IMF gives any condition, we will not accept it.
“We have to take action on our own needs. It is not right to increase the interest rate for now. America, however, has controlled inflation by raising interest rates. But in the case of Bangladesh, we have to slow down. It may not work the same way,” he mentioned.
Edimon Ginting, Country Director, Bangladesh Resident Mission (BRM), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Sharifa Khan, Secretary, ERD, Ministry of Finance, Albert F. Park, Chief Economist and Director General, Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department (ERCD), ADB, Md. Kawser Ahmed, Member (Secretary), GED, Planning Commission also spoke on the occasion.
