Twenty-eight Bangladesh missions abroad failed to achieve their respective export targets set for the July-May period of the last fiscal year (2012-13) mostly because of moderate export growth. The key missions like ones in Washington, London, Berlin, Rome, Madrid and Paris failed to achieve their July-May export targets while some other important missions—Stockholm, The Hague and Ankara—achieved their targets during the period. The overall export earning during the July-May period of the last fiscal year totalled $ 24,321.90 million against the strategic target of $ 25,161.00 million, posting a growth of 10.67 per cent. The overall export earning in 2011-12 fiscal amounted to US$ 24,287.66 million, 8.35 per cent down than the strategic target of $ 26,500 million.
Of the 44 Bangladesh missions, 16 reached their export targets of the July-May period of the last fiscal, according to the latest statistics provided by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
The 16 well-performing missions are in The Hague, Stockholm, Ankara, Canberra, Hong Kong, Dubai, Moscow, Kualalampur, Cairo, Jakarta, Muscat, Bangkok, Riyadh, Manila, Kuwait and Tashkent.
Of the 28 Bangladesh missions that could not achieve their 11-month targets, exports still marked a rise for 15 of them over the corresponding period of the 2011-12 fiscal. These missions are in Tokyo, New Delhi, Yangon, Manama, Madrid, Rome, Ottawa, Beijing, Paris, Washington, London, Berlin, Seoul, Doha and Katmandu.
However, 13 missions—Tehran, Rabat, Brussels, Singapore, Islamabad, Colombo, Hanoi, Nairobi, Brunei, Pretoria, Amman, Tripoli and Thimpu—saw exports decline during the July-May period of the last fiscal compared to the same period of the previous fiscal (2011-12).
The EPB figures revealed that out of the 16 Bangladesh missions having commercial wings, only four had achieved the export targets set for them while 12 others could not achieve their targets.
The four missions with commercial wings, which had achieved the export targets, are in Canberra, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and Moscow.
Although the remaining 12 commercial wings could not achieve the targets, the earnings of 10 still saw increase over the 2011-12 fiscal. These are in Washington, Berlin, London, Madrid, Ottawa, New Delhi, Yangon, Tokyo, Paris and Beijing.
The 16 Bangladesh missions that succeeded in achieving their targets for the July-May period of last fiscal accounted for $ 4,288.96 million while the export earnings of the remaining 28 missions, which failed to achieve the targets, totalled $ 19,300.16 million.
The highest earnings over the 11-month period, some $ 5,190.09 million—almost one-fifth of total exports—were registered by the Washington mission, followed by the mission in Berlin, which accounted for $ 3,793.15 million and London $ 2,709.50 million.
The strong showing from EU member states continued with the Madrid mission fetching $ 1,167.29 million during the July-May period.The next was the Bangladesh mission in Italy, which earned almost $ 943.33 million, followed by missions in Ottawa and The Hague, with approximately $ 980.15 million and $ 1,021.06 million respectively. The New Delhi mission managed to fetch $ 536.09 million.
-With The Independent input
