Bangladesh earned approximately 8.58 billion US dollars in fiscal 2004-05 from garments exports, nearly 1 billion dollars more than that of the previous fiscal.

The result shows that the textile and apparel sector has performed beyond expectation and fears about negative impact of the textile quota elimination are wrong.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had warned Bangladesh of losing a quarter of its exports and a huge number of jobs in 2005 due to MA (Multi-Fibre Agreement) quota elimination on Jan. 1, 2005.

Textile experts attribute the recovery to the fact that Bangladesh has become well-known in the global apparel market as a reliable source of cheap garments. Unit cost of apparel in Bangladesh is the cheapest in the South Asian region. Its labor force is also skilled for the low-end products.

According to the local daily Facial Express on Sunday, the country's apparel manufacturers injected a fresh investment of nearly 20 billion taka (about 310 million US dollars) in the clothing sector last year. Exporters said though the price offered by the buyers registered a fall in recent months, the flow of orders increased, especially after the quota phase-out.

The government has taken up a 40-million dollar contingency plan to meet the challenges posed by the phasing out of the MA. The country set an eight-point action program, including the search for new opportunities in the developed markets, displaced workers' rehabilitation, capacity enhancement for small enterprises and technological capacity development of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises).

Source: Xinhua