![]() ![]() It is now 35% largely due to the garment industry. The share of women in paid work in Bangladesh at independence in 1971 was 4%. It also disproportionately employs women. For developing countries with an abundance of labour, this is a key advantage. The sector, particularly in early stages, is also very labour intensive. Garment firms, for example, in Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore in the 1970s onwards managed to move from basic garment assembly to running sophisticated and complex production, trade and financial networks for western clients (for more details, see here and here ). Though the bottom of the value chain is characterised by low productivity, the prize further up is significant, opening the door to advanced manufacturing and high value-added services, such as marketing and finance. Countries can start at the bottom with mass production of simple items of clothing, before slowly moving up the value chain, building capacity and productivity, while remaining internationally competitive. ![]() Stitching together t-shirts is much more achievable. For countries with low technical capacity, building and exporting products like cars is out of reach. Why has the garments export sector shown itself to be such an effective first step on the industrialisation pathway? A big part of the answer is the low start-up costs and technical knowledge required for entry. Garments exports there were still below $3 million in 2009, but they had reached almost $160 million by 2019. Growth has slowed down somewhat since then, reaching $340 million in 2019, but Kenya’s experience shows that rapid expansion in a relatively short time is possible. From less than $6.5 million in 2001, Kenya topped more than $250 million of garment exports by 2008. While Kenya and Ethiopia’s growth has been from a very low base – and their export values remain far lower than that of Bangladesh and other countries in Asia – the growth rate has been rapid. Other countries have also used garment exports to drive economic development: firstly, the East Asian tigers, then Vietnam, Cambodia and – more recently – Kenya, Ethiopia and Lesotho have followed suit. When the MFA was signed, the country’s GDP was just $12.5 billion. Now in terms of getting it back, the GSP is a potential future option and DFC (The US International Development Finance Corporation) financing is a potential future option and a signal that Bangladesh is back being attractive as an investment market, Fay continued.ĮRF President Mohammad Refayet Ullah Mirdha chaired the seminar, which was moderated by its General Secretary Abul Kashem.What’s more, the garment export sector has been an engine of growth for the wider Bangladeshi economy. The US Congress has not taken up any new scheme until now. He suggested that Bangladesh improve in labour rights, labour law reforms and freedom of association for reviving the GSP, which lapsed in December 2020. There is a big investment potential for the US in healthcare, ICT and education, Fay added. However, he did not elaborate on the matter.įay mentioned some challenges to investment in Bangladesh, such as problems with profit repatriation, intellectual property rights, data protection act and challenges of logistics services. ![]() John Fay, commercial counsellor of the US Embassy in Bangladesh, said there is a possibility of reducing the duty on export of garment items to the USA from Bangladesh. Mohammad Ali Khokon, president of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA), informed the seminar that currently Bangladesh imports 20% of required cotton from India.
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