Updated on : 08-11-2018

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed told Parliament that Bangladesh has earned US$ 41 billion in foreign exchange by exporting 744 products to 202 countries in the 2017-18 fiscal years. Commerce Minister came up with the statistics replying to a starred question from treasury bench MP AFM Bahauddin Nasim (Madaripur-3). Mentioning that it is not true that the country’s export remains confined to a few items, he said Bangladesh earned US$ 348 million by exporting 25 products to 68 countries in the 1972-73 fiscal year. Tofail mentioned that the government has taken a number of measures to diversify the export products. In reply to an unstarred question from Awami League MP Didarul Alam (Chattogram-4), the minister said the export volume of readymade garment (RMG) was US$ 28,149.84 million (over US$ 28 billion) in 2016-17 fiscal year which was higher by US$ 55.18 million from that of the previous fiscal year.

Tofail said the export size of readymade garment was only US$ 4,912.1 million in 2002-2003 fiscal year. The RMG export continues to rise every year and it will increase further due to various measures taken by the government. Replying to a another question from Nurjahan Begum, an AL MP elected to a reserved seat for women, Tofail said at present Bangladesh has bilateral trade deals with 45 countries of the world. 

 (Courtesy: Risingbd)