In the first four months of fiscal ending October 31, 2023, Bangladesh clothing exports reached US $14.78 billion, up by 5.59 percent over $13.95 billion in the same period of fiscal 2022-023. However, for the month of October 2023 alone, apparel overseas shipments slipped to $3.17 billion, slipping by 13.93 percent from $3.68 billion in the comparable month of earlier fiscal.
Experts attribute the fall in October exports to protests by workers on the minimum wage issue in the last week, resulting in clothing exports falling in the month.
These experts have been forecasting such a downtrend in exports for quite a long time as the pulse of the global market is showing depressed demand caused by historic high inflation and the Russia-Ukraine war. “To curb inflation advanced economies increased bank interest rates, which is limiting the purchasing power of consumers and demand for goods,” they added.
