Garment and textile manufacturers have yet again urged political parties to find alternatives to shutdowns in the greater interest of the economy.
They expressed concerns over the negative effects of hartals on the export-oriented readymade garment industry, which has already been suffering from different internal and external shocks.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association in a joint statement said these shutdowns hold back economic growth, limit exports and discourage investment. Almost $500 million worth of export orders were lost to the neighbouring country due to the volatile political situation at home, the trade bodies said.
Many regular buyers of Bangladeshi buyers are expressing reluctance over sending representatives to negotiate orders for this summer, due to the inherent violence of the hartals.
A team of Russian buyers went back home from Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka during the Wednesday-Thursday hartals last week.
Moreover, as foreign buyers are now threatening to cancel orders for delayed shipment, exporters have to go for expensive airfreight to meet the cut-off time, the trade bodies said. Damage inflicted on the garment sector puts at risk the livelihoods of the innumerable garment workers, which the economy will not be able to support otherwise, they said.