Refayet Ullah Mirdha

The government yesterday set a merchandise export target of $55.2 billion and a services export target of $8.2 billion for fiscal year 2026-27. Economists and business leaders said achieving the targets would be difficult amid an uncertain global environment and persistent domestic constraints.

The country’s sluggish garment exports are unlikely to recover in the coming months as the war in the Gulf drives up energy costs, feeds inflation in key Western markets and leaves retailers with more unsold stock, according to exporters and major international buyers.

The US has imposed a 10 percent tariff on imports from Bangladesh along with 17 other countries, as the countries have not done enough to prevent the import of raw materials produced using forced labour.

Foreign ministry says Dhaka has been placed in the lower tariff tier

Bangladesh’s apparel exporters are facing fresh uncertainty over the textile clause in the Bangladesh-US Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART), after leading US textile trade bodies argued that the mechanism is unlikely to achieve American industrial goals and called for an alternative framework.

Bangladesh is pursuing a dual-track strategy to retain duty-free access to the European Union after graduating from the least developed country (LDC) category, negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with the bloc while also seeking to qualify for its GSP Plus trade preference scheme.

When China widened duty-free access to 97 percent of Bangladeshi products in 2020 and later extended the concession to almost all goods in 2024, it appeared to offer Bangladesh a rare opening.

Swedish retail giant H&M has said Bangladesh remains “a very important sourcing market”, amid media reports suggesting it may reduce purchases from the country.