Like in September, Bangladesh’s apparel exports in October, in all likelihood, could witness a negative growth even as the apparel sector, which is the largest foreign currency earning sector, earned around US $ 1.77 billion from apparel exports in the first 20 days of October, down by 19 per cent from that of US $ 2.17 billion, registered in the same period of last year.
This is as per media reports, which cited sources from within the BGMEA, in this regard.
Meanwhile, interacting with the media, many from the industry, reportedly maintained that production in most factories had already fallen below 30 per cent compared to three to four months ago even as BGMEA President Faruque Hassan reportedly predicted that the rate of negative growth in exports will be higher this month as compared to last month and this trend is likely to continue for some more months, which also is in tune with the predictions reportedly made by some economists, who see no chance of the situation improving before next January or February.
It may be mentioned here Bangladesh’s apparel exports posted a 7.5 per cent negative growth in September this year compared to the same month last year, after a prolonged spell of growth for 13 months even if the decline in the last two months is largely attributed to a reduced demand of apparel because of record inflation and economic slowdown in the country’s major apparel export destinations.
