The country’s overdue export earnings increased significantly in the last few months due mainly to the recent spates of political violence in the country, said officials of Bangladesh Bank.
The exporters failed in shipping their products according to the delivery date in the last few months because of frequent shutdowns called by the opposition political parties.
According to the latest BB data, the unpaid export earnings stood at $104 million in February 2013 from $13 million in September 2012 as the importers did not pay in time against the exports.
The overdue export earnings increased every month between September and February as the overdue stood at $14 million in October, $22 million in November, $41 million in December, and $79 million in January.
The country’s export sector is also facing an image crisis abroad as the exporters frequently failed in shipping their products in due time, a BB official told New Age on Wednesday.
Under the circumstances, the foreign importers are dilly-dallying in sending their payment in due time, he said.
The official feared that the unpaid export earning would increase further in the coming months if the political unrest continues.
The ongoing economic turmoil in European countries and sluggish economic situation in North America are another cause of increasing trend in non-payable export earnings, he said.
The importers concerned in North America and European countries failed to pay in due time to the Bangladeshi businessmen due to their economic crisis, he said.
Another BB official said that the clients of the country’s exported products were relatively weaker in their business portfolio than the clients of China, India and Sri Lanka.
Under the circumstances, the clients, sometimes, fail to give their payment in due time which also plays a role for the increasing trend in unpaid export earnings, he said.
He said that the central bank had recently started collecting data through online relating to the export earnings resulting that the exporters had no way to hide their earnings of foreign exchange.
‘Before inaugurating the online system, the commercial banks used to send data to the BB through manual system. As a result, the central bank could not detect the overall overdue position in the banking sector properly’, he said.
Courtesy of New Age
