The nation’s export revenue varies significantly from fiscal year to fiscal year and has been rising over time. The disparity was slightly over US $ 8.5 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year, which runs from July to December. But during nine months, from July to March, the disparity has grown to almost US $ 14.5 billion.
This statistic reportedly was produced using data analysis from Bangladesh Bank and the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB). The previous fiscal year’s gap in export earnings was almost US $ 12 billion.
An analysis of data from the two regulatory agencies shows that the largest difference in export earnings during July-March 2023-24 fiscal year was in the ready-made garment sector.
According to EPB, in the first 9 months of the current financial year, the income from the export of ready-made garments was US $ 37.20 billion. Out of this, knit garment export income was US $ 21.01 billion and woven was US $ 16.11 billion.
However, according to Bangladesh Bank, the first nine months of the current fiscal year witnessed US $ 24.74 billion in export revenue from ready-made apparel. Out of this, US $ 13.62 billion comes from the export of knit garments, and US $ 11.12 billion from woven garments.
Therefore, in nine months, US $ 12.46 billion from the RMG industry did not enter the nation. Out of this, US $ 4.99 billion came from the woven industry and US $ 7.39 billion from the knit sector.
In the last fiscal year too, the export income of the ready-made garment sector was the highest in the country. According to EPB, readymade garments exports worth US $ 46.99 billion last fiscal year. However, Bangladesh Bank says that US $ 36.95 billion came to the country from the export of ready-made garments in the last fiscal year. That means more than US $ 10 billion worth of ready-made garment exports in the last Fiscal year did not arrive in the country until last June.
Bangladesh exported US $ 55.56 billion to the global market in the fiscal year 2022–2023, according to EPB. However, US $ 43.57 billion was collected for product exports during the previous fiscal year, according to Bangladesh Bank. In other words, the country received US $ 12 billion less in export revenue during that fiscal year than the EPB had predicted.
According to exporters, in recent times buyers have been paying for imported goods very late. They are delaying payments due to increased stock and reduced sales. Due to this the income is not coming within the stipulated period of export.
Furthermore, experts believe that there is no merit to the disparity in the statistics provided by the two Government bodies about export income. They claim that it is especially crucial for guaranteeing sound trade governance. Since over- and under-invoicing is widely acknowledged as a form of money laundering that occurs under the pretense of commerce.
