The country’s trade deficit in July-May of financial year 2011-12 increased to $ 7.95 billion, which is 6.12 per cent higher compared with that of the same period of the FY 2010-11.
The trade deficit slightly narrowed in May after a rapid rise in the first 10 months because of a drop in import payment and slower growth in export earnings, said Bangladesh Bank officials.
Data showed that the trade deficit in July-April was $7.34 billion, which was 9.87 per cent higher than the same period of the FY 2011.
The deficit figure in July-March was $6.58 billion, increasing by 13.04 per cent from July-March in FY 11, in July-February $5.70 billion, or 17.32 per cent higher, in July-January $5.02 billion, or 17.80 per cent per cent higher than the same period of the FY 11.
BB data, released on Wednesday, showed that the import payments surged to $ 29.67 billion against exports worth $21.71 billion in July-May in the FY2011-12.
The growth in import payment in the period came down to 7.04 per cent from around 40 per cent in July-May of FY 2010-11.
The growth in export earning in the period also decreased to 7.44 per cent from around 41.61 per cent in July-May of FY 2010-11 due to the current economic crisis in Europe and USA, a BB official told New Age.
He said that the country’s import payment had recently reduced significantly due to a slow import growth of food grains, industrial raw materials and capital machineries.
The BB’s data showed that growth in the settlement of letters of credit or import payment for industrial raw materials dropped to 11.97 per cent and for capital machinery to 21.05 per cent in July-April of FY 2010-11 compared to that of 57.89 per cent and 60.39 per cent growth respectively in the same period of FY2010-11.
Settlement of LCs for the industrial raw materials totalled $11.34 billion in July-April against that of $10.13 billion in the first ten months of FY2010-11.
During the July-April, the import payment for food grains totalled $ 745.72 million, or decreased by 54.65 per cent, against that of $ 1.64 billion in the same period of the FY 2010-11.
Due to declining trends in both export and import, the trade deficit had reduced from July to May in FY 2011-12.
The current account balance or the difference between the country’s savings and investment in July-May of FY 2011-12 stood at $754 million, up by 106.57 per cent from $365 million in the same period of FY 2010-11.
Another BB official said the current account balance had increased in the period as the expatriate Bangladeshis sent home a big amount of remittance.
Moreover, the foreign direct investment in the first eleven months of FY2011-12 also increased significantly.
BB data showed remittance inflow in the first 11 months of FY 2011-12 stood at $11.77 billion, growing by 10.88 per cent from the same period of FY 2010-11.
From July to May of FY 2011-12, the FDI stood at $ 1061 million, or grew by 50.92 per cent from that of the same period of FY 2010-11.