The country’s export earnings from the service sector witnessed strong growth in the July-May period of the 2018-19 fiscal as the earnings increased by 40.45 percent comparing to the corresponding period of previous 2017-18 fiscal. This year the earnings stand at $5.42 billion which a year ago was $3.85 billion, according to an Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.
The government goods and services as well as transportation, telecommunication and Information services played a crucial role in securing the steady growth, experts said. They said policymakers and government should increase knowledge, experience and capacity in service-trade negotiations in global forums to increase export earnings from this sector further.
They said the country should lay emphasis on regional and bilateral trade agreements regarding service sector. As per EPB sources, manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others increased by 504 percent to 179.65 million in July-May 2018-19 fiscal. Earning from transportation sector also went up by 14.32 percent to $618.44 million.
Sea transportation brought in $280.3 million, growing by 7.58 percent during the time from that in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Export of air transport services increased by 20.82 percent to $335.61 million. Export of travel services increased by 5.79 percent to $342.30 million in the period over that in the same time of previous fiscal.
Export of construction services increased by 270.51 percent to $427.75 million during the time comparing to the same period a year ago. However, export of insurance services decreased by 62.73 percent year-on-year to $0.60 million in July-May of FY 2019. Maintenance and repair services export was less by 21.43 percent at $4.29 million in July-May of FY 2019.
Export of personal, cultural and recreational services decreased by 1.98 percent to $14.38 million in the period. Export of telecommunication and information services grew by 5.06 percent to $508.93 million. In the category, computer services earnings increased by 25.59 percent to $205.85 million while information services earning increased by 11 percent to $7.15 million.
The government goods and services exports fetched nearly $2.18 billion, up 44 percent during the July-May period last fiscal year. Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of Exporters Association of Bangladesh, told Bangladesh Post that export earnings in the service sector have gradually increased, which is contributing to the country’s economy.
“Time has come to expand the service sector to more global markets to boost foreign currency reserves to reduce US dollar crisis on foreign exchange market,” he said. He added, the government should identify various challenges in this sector including quality education system, language and training problem, cultural barrier and lack of skilled nurses in the process. Murshedy said, the authority should emphasise on improvement of four areas such as services in tourism and travel, computer, transport and human health to boost export earnings from this sector.
