The government has fixed an ambitious export target of $14.5 billion for the fiscal year 2007-08 against a backdrop of falling exports in readymade garment (RMG) sector, leader in the country’s export initiatives, this July.

The target fixed at a meeting of the commerce ministry yesterday is 19.07 percent higher than the previous fiscal year’s export earning of $12.17 billion with 15.69 percent growth. The export target was $12.5 billion in the last fiscal year.

Finance and Commerce Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam presided over the meeting.

The Export Promotion Bureau is yet to release the country’s July export statistics officially. However, according to bureau sources, the country’s overall exports drastically declined by around 20 percent while the RMG exports went down by around 24 percent.

After the meeting Mirza Aziz explained to reporters that the fall in the export earning was “seasonal”.

“We talked to the leaders of BGMEA and BKMEA and they assured me that this year’s target will be achieved as the exporters are receiving export orders,” he said.

Commenting on the new export target, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Anwar-Ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez said although the target is difficult to achieve, it is not impossible to attain.

“We are getting export orders again after overcoming a bad time due mainly to reduction in export orders for warm winter season in the western and European countries,” he said.

“If there is stability and no political disturbance and workers unrest in the country and if the bank interest rate is reduced, we can achieve the export target, especially in the RMG sector,” Anwar-Ul Alam added.

Zaid Bakht, research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, said the export growth in the first nine months of the last fiscal year was 22 percent while the growth came down to around 16 percent in the last three months of the fiscal year. The downward trend is still continuing, he said.

Quoting BGMEA and BKMEA leaders, he said the RMG export is falling due to political unrest and weather changes in the western and European region.

“However, the BGMEA and BKMEA are confident that they can overcome the bad time and if it is possible, the new export target is not unrealistic,” he said.

The commerce ministry fixed the target after consultation with all exporters’ associations, chambers and different government agencies.

As per the new target, the government aims to earn $5.4 billion from the weaving sector with a 16 percent growth. In the last fiscal year, the sector witnessed 14.05 percent growth with an export earning of $4.65 billion against a similar target.

The government has fixed $5.46 billion as the export target for the knitwear sector with a 20 percent growth. In the last fiscal year, earning from the sector was $4.55 billion with 19.3 percent growth against a target of $4.84 billion.

The RMG makes up 75 percent of the country’s exports.

The target in exporting frozen food was fixed at $600 million with 16 percent growth, $8 million in tea export with 15 percent growth, $350 million in jute and jute products with 9 percent growth, and $295 million in leather and leather goods with 21 percent growth.