This comes on the back of the sector’s rapid growth and modernization over the past decade-as well as the strides it has made in improving conditions for the country’s approximately four million garment workers. The ready-made garment (RMG) industry is a mainstay of this economic success story: Bangladesh is today one of the world’s largest garment exporters, with the RMG sector accounting for 84 percent of Bangladesh’s exports. 1 Tazreena Sajjad, “Bangladesh at 50: A nation created in violence and still bearing scars of a troubled birth,” The Conversation, March 12, 2021. Even with the setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic, the South Asian nation is on track to become a middle-income country within the next few years. In recent years, Bangladesh has been the largest recipient of the World Bank’s interest-free credits.As Bangladesh celebrates 50 years of independence, global attention is focused on the remarkable economic and social progress the country has achieved in recent decades. Since then, the World Bank has committed nearly $26 billion in grants and interest-free credits to Bangladesh. The World Bank was among the first development partners to support Bangladesh following its independence. The credit from the World Bank’s International Development Association, which provides grants or zero-interest loans, has a 38-year term, including a six-year grace period, and a service charge of 0.75 percent.
The project will build on this momentum, and help increase the number of firms directly exporting in targeted sectors by about 29 percent.
Light manufacturing sub-sectors, which are labor intensive and employ women, have expanded employment by 4.3 percent annually since 2010. However, the non-RMG manufacturing sectors have been generating about 300,000 new jobs annually since 2010. The average wage growth for firms benefitting from the project could rise by an estimated 34 percent by the end of the project.”Īlthough the RMG sector constitutes 82 percent of exports, employment growth in the sector has stalled. “The project will encourage training to improve skills and labor productivity, and thus help generate better-paid jobs. “The project will enhance growth and competitiveness of selected sectors that have a demonstrated comparative advantage or that provide essential inputs in export-oriented manufacturing value chains,” said Michael Olavi Engman, World Bank Team Leader for the Export Competitiveness for Jobs Project. The project will also support marketing and branding efforts to strengthen linkages to existing and new markets. It will also address the shortage of skills development, especially in industrial training for women, as well as in infrastructure and technology. The project will help firms to access international markets and enhance their ability to comply with international standards through awareness building and matching grants.
“The project will help the economy to integrate further into the world trading system, and provide better jobs to Bangladeshi youth entering the labor market in the next decade, with a particular focus in improving female labor participation.” “Bangladesh is the world’s second largest garments exporter after China and it can boost growth by diversifying its exports, and repeat the garment sector success story in other sectors,” said Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. The project will help create more than 90,000 jobs in non- Ready Made Garment (RMG) export sectors. The Export Competitiveness for Jobs Project will improve competitiveness of existing and potential export-oriented industries such as leather, footwear, plastics and light engineering, where Bangladesh has demonstrated a competitive edge. WASHINGTON, JThe World Bank today approved $100 million financing to help Bangladesh diversify exports in labor and skill intensive industries beyond the garment sector and create more and better jobs. Democratic Republic of Congo - Français.
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