Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The government has finalized the new draft Export Policy for 2015-2018, outlining a plan to increase annual exports earnings to $70 billion by the year 2021, officials said.
They said, the draft policy provides trust to new export sectors offering various incentives to help broaden their markets and products base as well as make the export system modern and liberal in line with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“We have finalized the draft export policy after holding series of meetings with stakeholders which will be sent to the Cabinet next week for its final approval,” a senior Commerce Ministry official told The New Nation on Sunday on condition of anonymity.
He said the Ministry of Commerce being the parent ministry initiated the task last year with a view to maximizing the country’s export.
“We are expecting that the country’s annual export earnings will increase $50
billion by 2018 and it will hit $70 billion by 2021 provided by incentives and policy supports to the export-oriented industries,” he added. He further said the Ministry has fixed the target keeping in mind to transform the country a middle-income one by 2021. The official also said that the his ministry has recommended for easy term loans, tax cut on importing raw materials, special rebate on using electricity and gas to the exporters to achieve the goal. “All these matters are under the jurisdiction of various ministries. We will seek their support in this regard to make the policy sustainable and supportive to the exporters,” he mentioned. Narrating other features of the new policy, the official said it has given special focus on products and export market diversification as we are now working with handful export items which are mainly heading towards Europe and America. “The new policy has laid special emphasis on creating new markets. Under the plan, we are going to open commercial wings in various countries to broaden the country’s export markets,” he said.
Regarding export diversification, he said, at present garment export accounts for 80 per cent of the total exports of the country. Contribution of others is around 20 per cent now. The new policy set a target to enhance the contribution of non-garment items to 40 per cent of the country’s total export by 2021. “I think the target is rational if we consider the potential of other export commodities, like agro-products, jute, jute goods, medicine, terry-towel, home textile, leather and leather goods, ships and many more,” he noted.
Other sectors with potential for exports include handicrafts, handloom, textiles, engineering and chemicals, electronics and software products and jewellery. He said potentials of these sectors have already been proven and they are contributing to exports. Their exports could go to a new high if we can ensure necessary policy supports to them with diversifying the export markets.
When asked, he said, the Ministry of Commerce has already identified the bottlenecks which need to be overcome to enable the sectors to realize their full potential. On the other hand, he said, the government is developing infrastructures and economic zones to reduce the cost of doing business to make the local commodities competitive in the global arena. Once we will able to ensure edge of our products, it will help boost export.
Replying to a question, he said, “The $70 billion export target is ambitious, but achievable.” In the fiscal 2013-14, Bangladesh’s exports grew 11.65 per cent to $30.17 billion year-on-year, which was 1.06 per cent lower than the target for $30.5 billion, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
The export target for the outgoing fiscal (2014-15) has been set at $33.2 billion, which is 10.02 per cent higher than the total earnings of the previous fiscal.
The government has finalized the new draft Export Policy for 2015-2018, outlining a plan to increase annual exports earnings to $70 billion by the year 2021, officials said.
They said, the draft policy provides trust to new export sectors offering various incentives to help broaden their markets and products base as well as make the export system modern and liberal in line with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“We have finalized the draft export policy after holding series of meetings with stakeholders which will be sent to the Cabinet next week for its final approval,” a senior Commerce Ministry official told The New Nation on Sunday on condition of anonymity.
He said the Ministry of Commerce being the parent ministry initiated the task last year with a view to maximizing the country’s export.
“We are expecting that the country’s annual export earnings will increase $50
billion by 2018 and it will hit $70 billion by 2021 provided by incentives and policy supports to the export-oriented industries,” he added. He further said the Ministry has fixed the target keeping in mind to transform the country a middle-income one by 2021. The official also said that the his ministry has recommended for easy term loans, tax cut on importing raw materials, special rebate on using electricity and gas to the exporters to achieve the goal. “All these matters are under the jurisdiction of various ministries. We will seek their support in this regard to make the policy sustainable and supportive to the exporters,” he mentioned. Narrating other features of the new policy, the official said it has given special focus on products and export market diversification as we are now working with handful export items which are mainly heading towards Europe and America. “The new policy has laid special emphasis on creating new markets. Under the plan, we are going to open commercial wings in various countries to broaden the country’s export markets,” he said.
Regarding export diversification, he said, at present garment export accounts for 80 per cent of the total exports of the country. Contribution of others is around 20 per cent now. The new policy set a target to enhance the contribution of non-garment items to 40 per cent of the country’s total export by 2021. “I think the target is rational if we consider the potential of other export commodities, like agro-products, jute, jute goods, medicine, terry-towel, home textile, leather and leather goods, ships and many more,” he noted.
Other sectors with potential for exports include handicrafts, handloom, textiles, engineering and chemicals, electronics and software products and jewellery. He said potentials of these sectors have already been proven and they are contributing to exports. Their exports could go to a new high if we can ensure necessary policy supports to them with diversifying the export markets.
When asked, he said, the Ministry of Commerce has already identified the bottlenecks which need to be overcome to enable the sectors to realize their full potential. On the other hand, he said, the government is developing infrastructures and economic zones to reduce the cost of doing business to make the local commodities competitive in the global arena. Once we will able to ensure edge of our products, it will help boost export.
Replying to a question, he said, “The $70 billion export target is ambitious, but achievable.” In the fiscal 2013-14, Bangladesh’s exports grew 11.65 per cent to $30.17 billion year-on-year, which was 1.06 per cent lower than the target for $30.5 billion, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
The export target for the outgoing fiscal (2014-15) has been set at $33.2 billion, which is 10.02 per cent higher than the total earnings of the previous fiscal.
