World Bank (WB) country director for Bangladesh Johannes Zutt on Sunday said the failure of the government and the RMG factory owners in ensuring the safety standards in factories can largely affect the country’s overall export in the days to come.Zutt said the reputation risk posed by the ‘unspeakable, preventable tragedies’ of Tazreen fire and Rana Plaza collapse is going to stay in the way of the RMG export for a long time, if no serious attempt is taken by the government and the private sector to address the challenges of the safety issues.
He was addressing a WB media briefing on “The FY 14 Budget” at the WB office.
The WB country director added that besides endangering the country’s RMG exports, which accounts for three-quarter of the total export earning, the reputation risk can have adverse impacts on other export-oriented manufacturing sector.
He said the Rana Plaza collapse or the Tazreen fire are not failures of individuals, but of all the employers and the system. If the safety issues are not properly addressed, the buyers can change their destination from Bangladesh to other countries, he said.
Zutt, however, said the country still remains an attractive destination for the retailers and buyers for its low-cost labour.
To become a middle-income economy, Bangladesh needs to focus on the proliferation of the export oriented industries. No country can achieve the middle-income status scale with only one grown up industry, he added. (Source: UNB)
