STAFF CORRESPONDENT:

The country’s merchandise exports saw a 16.06% year-on-year decline in May, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

The overall earnings stood at $4.07 billion in May, which was $4.85 billion in the same month of FY23.

May earnings were 23.75% lower than the commerce ministry’s $5.34 billion export target for the month in this fiscal year.

In the first 11 months of the current fiscal, the country earned $51.54 billion through goods export, which is 2.01% higher than the same period of the previous fiscal.

The earnings fell at a time when the country is facing a severe forex reserve shortage, borrowing US dollars  from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international lenders to tackle the crisis.

But still, importers failed to open letters of credit (LCs) on time, and the central bank continues selling US dollars to the commercial banks.

The apparel sector, the country’s lion shareholder, earned up by 2.86% year-on-year to $47.47 billion in the July-May period of FY24.

The EPB data shows that almost all major sectors, except the RMG, however, posted year-on-year negative earnings in the first 11 months of this financial year.