Bangladesh's export earnings from the service sector stood at US$6.13 billion registering a 5.56 per cent negative growth in the just-concluded fiscal year 2019-20, the official data showed.
The country earned US$6.49 billion from the service sector in the fiscal year 2018-19.
The last fiscal's export earnings from the service sector were 27.86 per cent lower than the strategic target of US$8.50 billion set for the fiscal, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data released on Monday.
The single-month earnings in June'20 also dropped by 17.97 per cent to $416.35 million.
Export earnings from services including transportation, travel, construction and telecommunication and information recorded a 5.10 per cent decline to $6.05 billion in the last fiscal year which was $6.37 billion in the previous fiscal of 2018-19, the data showed.
Transport services comprising air, sea, rail and road fell by 13.45 per cent to $573.93 million during the July-June period of the last fiscal which was $663.10 million in FY 2018-19.
Bangladesh earned $320.11 million from both business and personal (education and tourist) travels, marking a 12.99 per cent negative growth in the last fiscal compared to than that of the corresponding period in the previous fiscal.
Earnings from construction services during the period stood at $262.96 million against $432.42 million in the previous fiscal.
And earnings from financial services other than insurance, however, recorded a 9.25 per cent growth with $160.34 million earnings in the just-concluded fiscal, according to the EPB data.
Telecommunication and information services witnessed a 14.87 per cent decline to $474.24 million.
Earnings from computer services including software, data processing and consultancy and information services, however, grew by 15.24 per cent and 31.43 per cent respectively in the last fiscal.
The country earned $276.45 million and $0.46 million from computer and information services respectively in the fiscal year 2019-20, the data revealed.
Earnings from goods procured in ports by carriers declined by 22.60 per cent to $67.93 million while earnings from goods sold under merchanting fell by 54.29 per cent to $13.15 million in the last fiscal. Goods exports fetched $33.67 billion in the FY 2019-20 which was $40.53 billion in the FY 2018-19.
The government has set US$41.0 billion goods and additional $7.0 billion earnings from services export target for this fiscal year (FY) 2020-21.
Munni_fe@yahoo.com