Potential sectors that lie uncared for, will be developed to make the country’s economy stronger, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said on Thursday. “We will find out potential sectors that have huge prospects for the country in raising export earnings,” the Finance Minister told reporters after attending a purchase committee meeting at his Secretariat office.
Following the global recession, export from Bangladesh has declined. “Through developing different sectors and training unskilled labour, we will face the challenge,” he said. Kamal said, “It is necessary to create efficient manpower in different potential sectors and the government is working on
“Simultaneously, non-government and private educational institutions are also contributing to skilled manpower in the textile sector,” he said. “We want to establish Bangladesh as a developed and prosperous country by creating skilled manpower,” he said while adding, “For this, we have to work hard for the development in all fields including industrialization, trade and commerce.”
The country’s export earnings stood at $19.30 billion in the first six months of the ongoing fiscal (FY 2019-20). This earning decreased by 5.84 percent compared to that in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal of $20.50 billion, according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.
The strategic target of the total export earnings set for this period of the current fiscal,$22.12 billion, also decreased by 12.77 percent. Official data show export earnings from readymade garments, which accounts for almost 84 percent of the total export earnings, went down by 6.21 percent to $16 billion during the July-December period of the current fiscal from $17 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
On the other hand, export earnings from agricultural products stood at $523.9 million during the time, up by 1.21 percent over $517.64 million earned in the same period of the previous fiscal. Besides, the plastic sector also witnessed a positive growth amounting to $56.86 million during the time, which was 0.57 percent higher during the same period of the previous fiscal.
Meanwhile, export earnings from jute and jute goods, engineering equipment, rubber and handicrafts, also saw a positive growth. The figures were $511.73 million, $35.63 million, $14.62 million and $11.15 million respectively. However, the leather sector needs special care for a rebound as it is facing huge difficulties to compete in the global market.
Export earnings from this sector stood at $475.83 million during July-December in FY 2019-20, which was 10.61 percent lower than that in the same period of the previous fiscal. During the first ten months of FY19, the figure was $532.30 million. Besides, ceramic products, wool and woolen products and frozen and live fish also witnessed a negative growth during the period.