Refayet Ullah Mirdha

The government wants to amend the labour law as soon as possible to comply with European Union labour standards in a bid to obtain the GSP Plus status in the key export market, said the commerce secretary yesterday.  

Bangladesh will again raise the issue of the reinstatement of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) of the US in the Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (Ticfa) meeting in Washington in November, said Tapan Kanti Ghosh, senior secretary to the commerce ministry, yesterday. 

Around 73 per cent of Bangladesh’s garment exports is still limited to nine countries for a lack of market diversification in spite of different public and private initiatives. 

Apparel exporters in Bangladesh are feeling the pinch of a looming global recession, persisting higher inflation and dragging severe fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war as orders from international buyers have fallen. 

Bangladesh’s exports to South Asian nations reached a new high in the last fiscal year of 2021-22 for having grown steadily over the past three years, according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

Bangladesh can make little use of the generous duty benefits offered by China simply because of its narrow export basket, with the situation compounded by the fact that the products are low in demand in the East Asian country. 

The cost of fuels for Plummy Fashions Ltd, the world’s greenest knitwear factory located in Narayanganj, will go up by 25 per cent owing to Saturday’s more than 50 per cent hike in the price of petroleum products. 

The cost of fuels for Plummy Fashions Ltd, the world's greenest knitwear factory located in Narayanganj, will go up by 25 per cent owing to Saturday’s more than 50 per cent hike in the price of petroleum products.

Bangladesh should cut its over-reliance on the US dollar and increase the use of other currencies such as the Chinese renminbi (RMB) in international trade to ease pressure in the foreign currency market, businesses said. 

The Second World War changed almost everything in the world. Or in short, we can also say that after WWII, the world changed in a way it had not changed for many years.

Merchandise exports from Bangladesh grew 15 per cent year-on-year to $3.98 billion in July, giving a much-needed breather to the country amid global uncertainty and foreign exchange crisis, official figures showed yesterday.  

Use of multiple currencies instead of being overly dependent on the US dollar in international trade may ease the pressure on foreign exchange reserves and help overcome the current crisis, said the chief of a leading chamber yesterday.

The import of basic raw materials used to produce garment items in Bangladesh surged in the first six months of 2022 on the back of a rise in demand in the export markets, even contributing to the dollar crisis in the country. 

The country’s apex trade body yesterday called on the central bank to beef up its monitoring of private commercial banks, financial institutions and money changers to check the anomalies in the international currency exchange business. 

Bangladesh wants easy and cheap cotton from Uzbekistan to boost trade relations between the two countries, Senior Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh said today.

Bangladesh has taken up the initiative to join Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to retain duty benefits once it makes the United Nations status graduation from a least developed country to a developing one in 2026. 

The proposed comprehensive economic Partnership agreement (CEPA) with India should be partially reciprocal, not fully, as India has a big economy and a huge basket of diversified products for export, said economists and businesses.

Senior officials of ministries concerned yesterday reached consensus on signing a much-needed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)

A falling local currency usually translates into higher earnings for exporters since their products become more competitive in the global markets. 

The inter-ministerial meeting on CEPA was attended by the officials of some important ministries, including foreign, labour, commerce, home affairs, along with different departments of agencies of the government at the commerce ministry in Dhaka.