The government has set an export earnings target of $57.50 billion for the financial year 2024-25, aiming for a 12.59 per cent growth.

The commerce ministry on Sunday approved this target during the 146th meeting of the Export Promotion Bureau’s board of directors, held at the Bangladesh Secretariat in Dhaka.

The export target has been set at $50 billion for goods, reflecting a 12.44 per cent growth, and $7.5 billion for the service sector, aiming for a 13.64 per cent increase.

According to sources from the commerce ministry, the export earnings target for readymade garments in FY25 has been set at $40.48 billion, marking an 11.99 per cent increase from the $36.15 billion earned in FY24.

The commerce ministry has set the export earnings target for FY25 at $21.07 billion for knitwear, representing a 12.54 per cent growth, and $18.78 billion for woven garments, reflecting an 11.36 per cent increase.

‘We have set an export earnings target aiming for over 12 per cent growth compared with the earnings for the financial year 2023-24,’ commerce adviser Salehuddin Ahmed told reporters following the meeting.

He said that the target has been set keeping the current situation in mind and expressed hope that it would be achieved.

In response to a question, the adviser said that the United States had put some queries, rather than conditions, regarding the GSP facilities, and the government had already addressed those.

‘This month, I will travel to Washington, where I will discuss the matter with them,’ Salehuddin said.

Revised data from the EPB showed that total export earnings from both goods and services amounted to $51.07 billion for the financial year 2023-24.

In FY24, exports totalled at $44.47 billion for goods and $6.60 billion for services, with growth rates of -11.97 per cent for goods and -5.30 per cent for services, respectively.

The EPB revised its earnings for FY24 downward by more than $10.81 billion to $44.46 billion, which was 4.22 per cent lower than the $46.43 billion earned in FY23.

After excluding double entries, the country’s export earnings for FY23 decreased by $9.06 billion, from the previously reported $55.56 billion.

There was a total decrease of $19.88 billion in export earnings over the past two financial years, official data showed.

Due to discrepancies between the statistics reported by the EPB and the National Board of Revenue, the EPB has suspended the publication of export data since last June.

On Sunday, the EPB data submitted to the commerce ministry showed that export earnings from readymade garment in the FY24 fell by 5.22 per cent to $36.15 billion from $38.14 billion in FY23.

The data showed that earnings from knitwear in FY24 decreased by 5.13 per cent to $19.28 billion, while earnings from woven garments fell by 5.32 percent to $16.87 billion during the same period.

Export earnings from home textile in FY24 feel by 22.05 per cent to $851 million from $1.09 billion in the previous financial year.

The country’s export earnings from leather and leather goods in FY24 fell by 11.6 per cent to $1.04 billion while the earnings from jute and jute goods declined by 6.17 per cent to $855.23 million.

Export earnings from agricultural products, however, increased by 16.59 per cent to $964.34 million in FY24 from $827.10 million in FY23.

Live and frozen fish exports in FY24 decreased by 10.71 per cent to $376.68 million from $421.86 million in FY23.

In June, the final month of FY24, the country’s export earnings decreased by 8.54 per cent, falling to $3.61 billion from $3.95 billion in the same month of FY23.