Bangladeshi garments

The economic status of Bangladesh is dependent on Agriculture since liberation. The country is most covered by country side and the fertility of lands has forced people’s dependability. Bangladesh id developing country where poverty is co-exist with almost half of the total population. The objective of the government policy is to reduce poverty by receiving the maximum output from agriculture and attains self-dependency in food production. For the sake of poverty elevation and development of life standard in rural people government initiated number of projects and more importantly number of NGOs are conducting several programs. But this policy is not being buttressed currently attributed to monopolistic strategy. Thus for beside agriculture, the development of export sector is under greater consideration. Exports from Bangladesh have both grown and changed substantially as time goes on. After the birth of Bangladesh, jute and tea were the most export-oriented sectors. But with the constant threat of flooding, declining jute fiber prices and a significant decrease in world demand, the contribution of the jute sector to the country’s economy has deteriorated (Spinanger, 1986). After that attention has turned to the role of manufacturing sector, especially in garment industry.

The garment industry in Bangladesh has become the main export sector and a major source of foreign exchange since 1980. It currently exports about $5 billion worth of products each year (Mahmood, 2002). According to Begum (2001), the industry employs about 3 million workers of whom 90% are women. Two non-market factors have played a crucial role in ensuring the garment sector’s continual success namely (a) quotas under Multi- Fibre Arrangement1 (MFA) in the North American market and (b) preferential market access to European markets (Bhattacharya and Rahman, 2001). The whole procedure is strongly related with the trend of relocation of production.

References

* Begum, N. (2001). “Enforcement of Safety Regulations in the Garment Sector of Bangladesh”. In P. Paul-Majumder & B. Sen (eds). Growth of Garment Industry in Bangladesh: Economic and Social Dimension. Proceedings of a National seminar on ready-made garment industry, pp. 208-226. (Dhaka: BIDS)
* Bhattacharya, D. and Rahman, M. (2001) Bangladesh’s Apparel sector: Growth trends and the Post-MFA challenges.In P. Paul-Majumder & B. Sen (eds). Growth of Garment Industry in Bangladesh: Economic and Social Dimension. Proceedings of a National seminar on ready-made garment industry, pp. 2-26. (Dhaka: BIDS)
* Mahmood, S.A. (2002) “How the Bangladesh garment Industry took off in the early eighties: The role of policy reforms and diffusion of good practices”. Alochona Magazine, Issue 8, Economy.
* Spinanger, D. (1986) “Will the MFA keep Bangladesh Humble?” In The World Economy. Vol. 10(1). P.75-84. (Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publisher Ltd)