The country’s export earnings from the service sector have witnessed strong growth standing at $4.32 billion in the July-April period of the current fiscal.
The amount is 42.58 percent higher than that earned in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal 2017-18 ($3.41bn), according to an Export Promotion Bureau data.
The government goods and services, transportation, telecommunication and Information Services, and Maintenance and repair have played a crucial role in maintaining steady growth, experts said. They said, the country needs to focus on narrowing trade gap by raising more export earnings from service sector as import payments in this sector are still high.
The policymakers and the government should increase knowledge, experience, and the capacity in services trade negotiations in the global forums, they mentioned. The country should lay emphasis on regional and bilateral trade agreements regarding service, they added. Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others increased by 708.41 percent to 164.43 million in July-April-2019.
Maintenance and repair services export was less by 16.63 percent at $5.83 million in July-April of FY 2019. Earning from transportation sector went up by 16.97 percent to $565.91million. Sea transportation brought in $255.51 million, growing 10.81 percent during the time from that in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Export of air transport services items increased 22.94 percent and road transport services decreased 58.14 percent respectively. Export of travel services increased by 5.42 percent to $313.32 million in the period over that in the same time of previous fiscal. Export of construction services increased by 259 percent to $386.69 million from the same period a year ago.
Export of insurance services decreased by 58.78 percent year-on-year to $0.54 million in July-April of FY 2019. Export of telecommunication and information services grew by 7.05 percent to $461.42 million. In the category, computer services earnings increased by 25.33 percent to $183.68million while information services earning decreased by 0.51 percent to $5.82 million.
Export of personal, cultural and recreational services decreased by 3.06 percent to $13 million in the fiscal. The government goods and services exports fetched nearly $1.9 billion, up 44.29 percent during the July-April period last fiscal year. Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB), told Bangladesh Post that export earnings in the service sector have gradually increased, which is contributing to the country’s economy.
“Time has come to expand the service sector to more global markets to boost foreign currency reserves to reduce US dollar crisis on foreign exchange market,” he said.
He added, the government should identify various challenges in this sector including quality education system, language and training problem, cultural barrier and lack of skilled nurses in the process. Murshedy said, the authority should emphasise on improvement of four areas such as services in tourism and travel, computer, transport and human health to boost export earnings from this sector.