Bangladesh's garment exporters say the country’s interest rates are high compared to India, Pakistan, Vietnam and Indonesia. They want the government to reduce the rate as exporters see it as an impediment to growth. They say if this is not done, the industry would not grow at the expected level and the target of reaching exports of $50 billion by 2021 will be tough to achieve. Another of their peeves is that the US has suspended GSP facility for Bangladesh. They want the facility restored.

Bangladesh is the world’s second largest garment exporter. The garment industry now accounts for nearly 82 per cent of Bangladesh’s total exports. In the last 40 years since independence, poverty rate has fallen from 80 per cent to less than 30 per cent, GDP has averaged around five to six per cent for over 20 years, and the garment industry has had a lot to do with all this. It has transformed the economic and social landscape of the country.

When the Rana Plaza garment factory collapsed in 2013, a harsh spotlight suddenly shone on the country’s garment industry. That spotlight showed an industry in chaos, unsafe conditions, corruption, low wages and child labor. Cheap labor and lax regulations are part of Bangladesh’s draw. And the government has pitched its garment industry in that light to attract investment.