UNB, Dhaka :Despite the ongoing disagreement over the suspended GSP facility, export earnings from the USA witnessed robust growth of nearly 18 percent during the first 2 months (July-August) of the 2015-16 fiscal, over the corresponding period of the last fiscal (2014-15).The healthy growth trend can be attributed to the sustained penetration of the US market by the country’s RMG sector. Bangladesh exports to the USA totalled $1.05 billion in the July-August, representing almost a fifth (19.56 percent) of the country’s total exports during this period. The corresponding figure during fiscal 2014-15 was $ 892.47 million.According to the statistics compiled recently by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the major exports to the US market during the two-month period were woven garment ($ 684.78 million), knitwear ($ 292.20 million) – both of which fall under RMG, meaning it earned over $970 million of the $1.05 billion total earnings. Making up theremaining $30 million-odd were the exporters of frozen shrimp ($ 2.20 million), home textiles ($17.80 million) and cap ($ 7.54 million). Over 30 percent of the country’s total woven garment exports during July-August entered the US market. The overall picture lends credence to the view that the loss of the GSP facility – which never extended to export-king RMG anyway – wouldn’t unduly hamper business between the US and Bangladesh.At its current growth rate, exports to the US might top $6 billion for the first time in the current fiscal.Bangladesh’s export earnings from the US in fiscal 2013-14 were impressive with $5.6 billion, up from $ 5.4 billion in 2012-13. In 2011-12 were also impressive totalling $5.1 billion, almost identical to the $5.1 billion in fiscal 2010-11 – the first time that the $5 billion barrier was broken. With or without GSP, suspended since June 2013 following a White House directive, the Bangladeshi business community has not looked back since.
