BGMEA reveals the Coronavirus pandemic has led to a significant decline in the country’s earnings from its apparel exports. According to the data, earnings declined 18.45 per cent year-on-year to $27.83 billion in the outgoing fiscal year. This is $6.3 billion less than fiscal 2018-19 and falls $10.37 billion short of the target set for fiscal 2019-20. The target for the immediate past fiscal year was $38.20 billion. Bangladesh exported $34.13 billion-worth apparel in fiscal 2018-19.

In June, the earnings were $2.12 billion which is 11.43 per cent lower than a year earlier but up 72.4 per cent from the previous month. The sector experienced a historic low in shipments in April this year. Earnings from the garments sector reached only $0.37 billion, the lowest receipt since the sector started taking shape four decades ago.

The receipts from apparel, which typically makes up 84 per cent of national exports, was lower mainly because of two reasons fuelled by the pandemic coronavirus. Primarily, thousands of retail stores were shut in the Western world and secondly, factories were shut in Bangladesh due to the pandemic.