The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) of Bangladesh will release revised export data following a hiatus of several months, prompted by significant discrepancies uncovered between its figures and those of the central bank during the last fiscal year.
The discrepancies, which led to an inflated export total, raised concerns about the accuracy of the country’s economic reporting.
At a meeting held at the Bangladesh Secretariat, Salehuddin Ahmed, the interim government’s finance and commerce adviser, was briefed by the EPB about the steps taken to revise the export data. The EPB indicated that they had already made necessary revisions and were preparing to publish the corrected data.
Following the meeting, Salehuddin Ahmed informed journalists that the discussions covered a wide range of topics, including the inconsistencies between the export data from the EPB and the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
He emphasized the need for consistency in the final export figures and mentioned that he had requested the EPB to ensure that the new data is accurate and to provide a projection for future exports.
The discrepancy came to light on July 3, when Bangladesh Bank released its balance of payments (BoP) data for the July-April period of the 2023-24 fiscal year. The central bank’s report showed that the country’s exports were nearly $14 billion less than the figures previously reported by the EPB.
This significant variance prompted an investigation, which revealed six types of statistical errors that had led to the inflated export numbers.
In response, the EPB ceased publishing export data from July 2024 onward to address the discrepancies. Since then, the bureau has been working with other key institutions, including the NBR, Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority, Bangladesh Bank, and the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, to gather accurate data.
Despite this pause, Bangladesh Bank has continued to publish its own export data, which, in its most recent BoP report, indicated that the export value stood at $40.8 billion for FY24, a decline of nearly 6 percent year-on-year.
EPB officials noted that there may still be some differences between the export figures reported by the central bank and those compiled by the EPB. This is primarily due to the different methodologies employed: the central bank’s data is based on the receipt of export proceeds, while the EPB’s figures are derived from shipment data.
Salehuddin Ahmed acknowledged the ongoing efforts to reconcile these figures but indicated that it is too early to determine whether the revised export data will impact the country’s GDP calculations. He assured that more detailed information would be provided as the situation develops.
The meeting at the Secretariat also included Commerce Secretary Md Selim Uddin, EPB Vice Chairman Md Anwar Hossain, and other senior officials.
