OUR industrial power houses must learn to stand on their own. Unreasonable favour from the government does not improve strength of the industrial base for competition. No industry should rely on short-term success for long-term disaster. Our economic power houses must fletch their muscle for what is best for the long-term sustainability.
Bangladesh had been suffering a large trade imbalance with China during the period between the fiscal year 2009-10 and FY 2013-14. The county’s trade imbalance with China stood at US$ 6798.60 billion in the fiscal year 2013-14, according to the EPB data. Bangladesh imported goods worth $ 7544.80 million from China in the fiscal year 2013-2014 and exported products of $ 746.20 million to that country during the same period, the data show. Bangladesh’s export to China was worth $ 458.12 million in 2012-13 while the country imported $ 6324 million worth of goods from China in the same time, according to the data.
Bangladesh exported live and frozen fish, oilseeds, leather and leather goods, cotton waste, jute and jute goods to China, industry insiders said. China is the largest import destination for Bangladesh. The country imports machinery, garment fabrics, cotton, chemicals and electrical equipment etc, they added.
India is Bangladesh’s second most important import source (after China), and ranks fifth as Bangladesh’s export destination. The gap amounted to US$5.579 billion in the last fiscal year. As per official data, the year-on-year increase in the bilateral trade deficit, against Bangladesh, was 33.58 percent or US$ 1.402 billion in the FY 2013-14.The data, released by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and Bangladesh Bank, show that the country’s trade with India marked incremental imbalances in the last one decade.
In the last six years, the deficit has more than doubled – from $1.978 billion in 2006-07 to $5.579 billion in 2013-14. However, there is a need to look at the attendant issues in more detail in order to adequately appreciate the dynamics of the deficit and the attendant reasons, as also to identify the possible modalities to reduce it.
Essentially there will always be a trade gap between Bangladesh’s two most important import sources as both China and India have the ability to produce manufactured goods in scale which cuts costs dynamically. It is impossible for Bangladesh to match this – we can only hope that in selected industries like RMG their labour costs go up so dramatically that we get a competitive advantage by default. However this is a bit like praying for rain when it is not possible to get water for irrigation – we are waiting on something which may take some time to happen (it is already on the process in China but may take more time with India).
So if we can’t beat them in manufacturing due to their enormous domestic markets – this leaves services like ICT and other sectors. We can get a lot of revenues from outsourcing as well as exporting high quality labour and web designing and programming, among others. To do this we have to improve the capability of our universities and their teaching standards, which means appointing politically influential people is not acceptable. It is only by ensuring the efficiency of our factors of production that we can truly get and keep a competitive advantage in the sector where we have a lot of surplus – labour.
Bangladesh had been suffering a large trade imbalance with China during the period between the fiscal year 2009-10 and FY 2013-14. The county’s trade imbalance with China stood at US$ 6798.60 billion in the fiscal year 2013-14, according to the EPB data. Bangladesh imported goods worth $ 7544.80 million from China in the fiscal year 2013-2014 and exported products of $ 746.20 million to that country during the same period, the data show. Bangladesh’s export to China was worth $ 458.12 million in 2012-13 while the country imported $ 6324 million worth of goods from China in the same time, according to the data.
Bangladesh exported live and frozen fish, oilseeds, leather and leather goods, cotton waste, jute and jute goods to China, industry insiders said. China is the largest import destination for Bangladesh. The country imports machinery, garment fabrics, cotton, chemicals and electrical equipment etc, they added.
India is Bangladesh’s second most important import source (after China), and ranks fifth as Bangladesh’s export destination. The gap amounted to US$5.579 billion in the last fiscal year. As per official data, the year-on-year increase in the bilateral trade deficit, against Bangladesh, was 33.58 percent or US$ 1.402 billion in the FY 2013-14.The data, released by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and Bangladesh Bank, show that the country’s trade with India marked incremental imbalances in the last one decade.
In the last six years, the deficit has more than doubled – from $1.978 billion in 2006-07 to $5.579 billion in 2013-14. However, there is a need to look at the attendant issues in more detail in order to adequately appreciate the dynamics of the deficit and the attendant reasons, as also to identify the possible modalities to reduce it.
Essentially there will always be a trade gap between Bangladesh’s two most important import sources as both China and India have the ability to produce manufactured goods in scale which cuts costs dynamically. It is impossible for Bangladesh to match this – we can only hope that in selected industries like RMG their labour costs go up so dramatically that we get a competitive advantage by default. However this is a bit like praying for rain when it is not possible to get water for irrigation – we are waiting on something which may take some time to happen (it is already on the process in China but may take more time with India).
So if we can’t beat them in manufacturing due to their enormous domestic markets – this leaves services like ICT and other sectors. We can get a lot of revenues from outsourcing as well as exporting high quality labour and web designing and programming, among others. To do this we have to improve the capability of our universities and their teaching standards, which means appointing politically influential people is not acceptable. It is only by ensuring the efficiency of our factors of production that we can truly get and keep a competitive advantage in the sector where we have a lot of surplus – labour.
