April exports fall slightly

Export earnings dropped by 0.53 percent year-on-year to $2.39 billion in April mainly due to seasonal effects.

The country shipped products worth $2.41 billion in the same month a year ago, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
Compared to March sales of $2.59 billion, exports also fell by 7.52 percent in April.

Citing the trend over the past five years, an EPB official said exports generally fall in April.

He said the demand for garment products in international market normally falls after December, which becomes evident in the export earnings figures in April.

Garments account for 80 percent of the country's total export earnings. 

A finance ministry official said the political turmoil in the first quarter of 2015 and the recent fall of the value of euro also affected the export earnings to some extent.

However, exports grew by 2.63 percent in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year to $25.3 billion, according to the EPB. Exports posted a growth of around 13 percent in the same a-year-ago period. 

The government has targeted increasing its export earnings by 10 percent in the current fiscal year, which has been revised down to 5 percent owing to slow growth, the finance ministry official said.

Bangladesh earned $30.17 billion from global exports in the last fiscal year.