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Fukunishi ed., Dynamics of the Garment Industry in Low-Income Countries: Experience of
Asia and Africa (Interim Report). Chousakenkyu Houkokusho, IDE-JETRO, 2012.

Chapter 6
The Garment Industry in Bangladesh
Mohammad Yunus and Tatsufumi Yamagata

Abstract
The garment industry in Bangladesh has been expanded almost uninterruptedly since the late 1970s. It survived Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA) phase out at the end of
2004, and remains internationally competitive to date. In this chapter, sources of competitiveness of the industry were discussed. There are three potential strengths, i.e. market force, government policy and dynamism inside the industry. Market force, which is represented by low wage of labor, is surely fundamental to the competitiveness. The roles of the government, industrial associations and technology transfer are still contentious issues to be discussed in the final report.
Keywords: Garment industry, Bangladesh

1 Introduction
Everywhere, the industrial sector has been the driver of growth as countries have moved from low- to middle-income status. Bangladesh as a country with a poor land-person ratio is unlikely to prosper through agricultural growth alone. The average productivity of industry is higher than in agriculture. As people move out of agriculture into industry, the sector can provide high-wage employment for large numbers of workers and can raise social productivity by producing high-value goods on a mass scale. Besides, poor countries can also earn valuable foreign exchange by exporting manufactured products and the ensuing foreign exchange can be used to invest in new vintage of machines and technologies so that a rapid move up the technology ladder becomes possible. The
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importance of industrial development as an engine of Bangladesh 's economic growth is also reinforced by a growing realization that the development of agriculture sector, one of the mainstays of the country 's economy, critically

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