International Trade of Bangladesh

International trade of Bangladesh

Bangladeshi international trade is extremely small relative to the size of its population, although it experienced accelerated growth during the last decade. It is not very diversified and depends on the fluctuations of the international market. The Bangladeshi government struggles to attract export-oriented industries, removing red tape and introducing various financial and tax initiatives. Between 1990 and 1995 Bangladesh doubled its exports from US$1.671 billion in 1990 to US$3.173 billion in 1995 and then almost doubled them again from US$3.173 billion in 1995 to US$5.523 billion in 1999.

During the 1990s, the United States has been the largest trading partner for Bangladesh, with its exports to the United States reaching 35.7 percent in 1998-99. This percentage consisted mainly of Ready-Made Garments (RMG). Germany is the second-largest export market, with the proportion of goods reaching 10.4 percent; and the United Kingdom is in third place at 8.3 percent. Other export destinations are France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Japan.

India, China, and Singapore are the 3 largest sources of imports. Most Bangladeshi imports originate from

Trade (expressed in billions of US$): Bangladesh |

| Exports | Imports |

1975 | .327 | 1.321 |

1980 | .793 | 2.599 |

1985 | .999 | 2.772 |

1990 | 1.671 | 3.598 |

1995 | 3.173 | 6.497 |

1998 | 3.831 | 7.042 |

SOURCE: International Monetary Fund. International Financial Statistics Yearbook 1999. |

Bangladesh launched a deep and wide-ranging trade reform strategy in the early 1990s. This included substantial reduction and rationalization of tariffs, removal of quantitative restrictions, move from multiple to a unified exchange rate system, convertible current account and an overall outward orientation of trade policy regime. As a result, the country’s trade integration, measured by the trade-GDP ratio, rose from 18% in 1990 to 43% in 2008.

Despite apprehensions that...