Country's exports bounce back in Jan

Bangladesh exports earned $3.31 billion in January, a 4 per cent rise from a year earlier, driven by a surge in shipments of garments, government data showed on Monday.

In December, exports fell 3 per cent from a year earlier.

For July-January, the first seven months of the 2016-17 financial year, exports increased 4.4 per cent to $20 billion from a year earlier, the Export Promotion Bureau said.

Readymade garments, comprising knitwear and woven items, totalled $16.4 billion, up 4 per cent from the same period the previous year.

Garment exports, the major foreign-exchange earner for the South Asian nation of 160 million, rose nearly 20 per cent in January from the previous month.

Low wages in Bangladesh and trade deals with Western markets have helped make it the world's second-largest apparel exporter after China.

Exports in the 2015/16 financial year that ended in June hit a record $34.24 billion, up 9.7 per cent from the previous year.

The government has set an export target of $37 billion for the current financial year, with garments earning an expected $30 billion.

($1 = 79.15 Taka)

Source: Reuters