The ‘Export Trade 2024-27’ document, which was formerly authorised by the administration of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is about to be revised by the interim Government. This decision follows complaints over the policy’s unrealistic export targets, which are based on allegedly erroneous data. Setting more attainable targets for the nation’s export industry is the aim.
In the course of an advisory council meeting presided over by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, the Government intends to reevaluate the audacious goal of US $ 110 billion in export revenue by 2027. Bangladesh must more than double its exports in order to meet this aim, which many policymakers believe is impossible to achieve in the next three years.
The export policy, which was authorised on 1st July, consists of a number of incentives designed to improve competitiveness after the nation is no longer classified as a least developed country (LDC). These incentives involve a 5-10 per cent rebate on power bills, a remission on all taxes while keeping a 1 per cent duty on capital machinery imports, and low-interest loans enabled by a special fund. Nonetheless, representatives from the Ministry of Commerce have hinted that the advisory council meeting would potentially involve a review of these incentives.
The Ministry of Commerce’s secretary, Md. Selim Uddin, stated that after the policy was approved in July, certain phrasing needed to be clarified. Those corrections have now been finished and will be presented during the meeting. He did not address possible adjustments to export targets, but a number of officials have hinted that real exports are about US $ 11 billion less than the Export Development Bureau’s stated estimates. Bangladesh’s actual exports came to just US $ 51 billion in the previous fiscal year, casting doubt on the country’s ability to reach the US $ 110 billion objective by 2027.
For the current fiscal year 2024-25, the objective for goods and services stands at US $ 57.50 billion, with Commerce Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed forecasting a growth rate of 12 per cent required to accomplish this goal. By the goal year, export earnings might approach US $ 70 billion if this rate continues for the next two fiscal years.
The advisory committee will examine the export policy in detail and make any required changes to the targets and other elements of the program.
This meeting also comes as the Government earlier created an export policy for 2021-24, which targeted for US $ 80 billion in revenues by 2021, although the real figure reached just US $ 51 billion by the end of the 2023-24 fiscal year.