DHAKA: Bangladesh’s garment-making sector has rebounded so strongly following the Rana Plaza disaster that economists and labour leaders are warning it risks holding back the country’s economy as a whole. Nearly four years after the collapse of a factory in Dhaka, the country’s capital, in which more than 1,100 garment workers were killed, western clothing companies are buying more from Bangladeshi factories than ever before.
But while the booming garment industry is contributing to an overall growth rate of 7 per cent, economists say it is suppressing wages and crowding out higher value sectors. “There is no diversity in the economy,” warned Rashed al Mahmud Titumir, economics professor at Dhaka University. “Bangladesh has not been able to produce more lucrative products — there are barely any exports except ready-made garments.”
In the 1983-4 fiscal year, Bangladesh garment sales abroad made up 3.9 per cent of its total exports and were worth $31.6m, according to data from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. By 1989-1990 that had risen to 32 per cent, worth $624.2m. At the time of the Rana Plaza collapse — the country’s worst industrial disaster — garment exports had reached 80 per cent or $21.5bn. Despite the tragedy, the sector has continued to grow, hitting $28.1bn in the last financial year and accounting for 82 per cent of total exports. Industry representatives say the continued growth is the result of the unprecedented action it took in the aftermath of the disaster, agreeing to independent safety checks and including workers and unions on inspection teams.
