Export losses from trade-disruptive NBR turmoil being calculated

Bangladesh's apparel apex body has sought information of the possible economic losses stemming from the trade-disruptive shutdown by customs, VAT and tax officials in massive reform protests.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) in a circular Thursday made the request to its members asking them to provide the related information, including nature of business, type of damages and amount of financial loss, by August 15.

The BGMEA move comes after an inter-ministerial committee, led by finance ministry, was formed to assess the economic losses owing to the shutdown enforced by the employees of the Customs and VAT Department and the Tax Department recently, according to the notification.

The BGMEA is also a member of the inter-ministerial committee, sources said.

When asked, BGMEA senior vice-president Inamul Haq Khan said they want to exactly quantify the economic losses from the shutdown.

"It is easy to quantify the amount of revenue that could not be collected during the period," he said, but garment factories have also incurred the financial losses as some shipments could not be made on time while buyers might have asked for discount for delayed shipments.

"We want to know which factory has incurred what types of loss and how much," he told the FE, adding that the government also wants to know the details and they would sit shortly after getting the necessary data.

National Board of Revenue (NBR) officials staged a series of protests and work stoppages, including 'pen-down' strike and complete shutdown in May and June last that significantly disrupted revenue collection and trade and business activities.

Meantime, a central bank report on April- to -June period of 2025 showed that net exports from the country's readymade -garment sector declined by 15 per cent during this quarter compared to January -to -March quarter of the fiscal year 2024-25.

Bangladesh's net RMG exports fell to US$5.17 billion or 56.78 per cent of the total apparel exports during the April-June quarter, which was US$6.09 billion or 58.90 per cent of January -March period's total apparel export earnings in 2025.

Bangladesh earned US$ 9.12 billion and US$10.34 billion in April-June and January-March quarters of last fiscal respectively, according to central bank report.

Raw material imports during the two quarters stood at US$3.93 billion and US$4.25 billion respectively.

The central bank calculated net RMG exports by subtracting the value of imported raw materials from export earnings.

The central bank considered the main head value of the components-raw cotton, synthetic/viscose fibre, synthetic/mixed yarn, cotton yarn, textile fabrics, and accessories for garments-instead of only raw materials - brought through back-to-back LCs, according to its latest quarterly report.

It attributed to external shocks and domestic inefficiencies the April-June quarter/FY25 performance.

The central bank report also warns rising geopolitical tensions, trade restrictions and infrastructure bottlenecks threaten sustained growth unless addressed proactively.

Munni_fe@yahoo.com