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chief financial officer of Square Pharmaceuticals.

“So, our profits were not impacted. Operational excellence has also influenced the performance.”

The pharmaceuticals sector, which meets 97 per cent of the local demand, witnessed a 12.1 per cent compound annual growth over the last five years.

The market size was Tk 27,500 crore as of June 2021, according to an analysis of UCB Asset Management.

Pharmaceuticals exports stood at $83 million in the January-June period, almost unchanged from the same period a year earlier, data from the Export Promotion Bureau showed.

Foreign sales, however, rose finally, fetching $188 million in 2021-22, up more than 11 per cent from $169 million a year earlier.

And analysts hope that exports from Bangladesh may cross $1 billion within the next two to three years as the door to the US market, the world’s largest, has opened for some drug makers because of their high level of compliance.

If local manufacturers can tap the opportunities in the US market, the value may cross even $5 billion within the next five to six years, they say.