Bangladesh targets a 6.33 per cent rise in readymade garment exports for fiscal 2018-19. Apparel occupies 83.79 per cent of the total exports. The target for knitwear is a rise of 7.21 per cent and woven growth target too is 7.21 per cent.

Cash incentive for garment exporters has been hiked to four per cent. With the higher cash incentives, garment exports to some new destinations like India, China, Japan and Australia are expected to grow a lot this year.

Bangladesh has had an impressive run in 2017-18 fiscal, making great strides in increasing garment exports. During the fiscal, apparel exporters marked a 8.76 per cent gain on a year-to-year basis – which is indeed encouraging in a competitive market where prices of apparel are falling.

Bangladesh targets readymade garment exports worth $50 billion by 2021. Buyer confidence in Bangladesh improved due to improvement in safety standards. However, manufacturers want a business friendly environment. They feel Bangladesh should focus on product diversification and go beyond the apparel sector and identify five sectors which would be able to earn over a billion dollars in the next five years. Bangladesh’s export earnings from readymade garment sector in the last fiscal year grew 8.76 per cent.