Light engineering poses $25b export market

Industry Desk: By now, the necessity for diversifying our exports have been talked about over and over again, and with every passing year, its importance only grows. It is absolutely necessary that the authorities concerned identify industries which have the potential to take some of the export pressure off of the RMG sector, which continues to account for over 80% of the country’s total exports.
To that end, it is encouraging to hear industry experts proclaiming that Bangladesh could earn as much as $25 billion by exporting light engineering products to potential markets like China, the US, India, Singapore, and Japan, provided that necessary policy support was given to the sector.
While the current light engineering roadmap projects that export earnings from the sector would stand at $12.56 billion in 2030, this is still positive development. However, this too requires a specific action plan that needs appropriate financing in order to take it from the planning stage to effective implementation.
Suffice to say, the onus is now on the authorities concerned to recognize that this is an industry with substantial potential for expansion and it is the right policy support that will allow it to reach the next level.
Identifying specific sub-sectors of light engineering, providing the right incentives, and the appropriate guidelines and policies are the minimum prerequisite that the industry requires at this stage.
Bangladesh is at a critical point in its development journey and for too long, it has relied on a few sectors to propel its economy. With ambitions of becoming a more prominent economy on the global stage, it is high time we start building the capacity of new industries, and light engineering could be at the top of the potential industries that could become our next great export.