The country’s trade deficit went down by 35.71 per cent in the first five months of the current fiscal year compared with that of 22.02 per cent per cent fall in the same period of the FY 2012-13 due to a rise in exports against slow growth in imports. According to the BB data to be released today, the deficit narrowed to $2.24 billion in July-November of the FY14 from $3.49 billion in the corresponding period of the FY13.
A BB official told New Age on Wednesday that the narrowed trade gap would not put much positive impact on the country’s macro-economic situation if the imports of industrial raw materials and capital machinery would not increase in accordance with the requirement.
The exports posted a robust growth in the first five months of the FY14, but the growth of import payments failed to achieve an expected level in the period due to a stagnant situation in the investment sector amid political unrest.
The BB data, however, showed that the import increased in July-November of the FY14 due mainly to a rise in imports of food products as the businesspeople moved to import of rice amid lower production of the food grain in the last few harvesting seasons.
The imports registered a 4.36-per cent growth in the first five months of the FY14 compared with that of a negative growth of 4.31 per cent in the corresponding period of the FY13.
The import payment stood at $14.06 billion in July-November of the FY14 while it was $13.47 billion in the same period of the FY13.
The country’s export earnings increased by 18.39 per cent in the first five months of the FY14 compared with that of 3.96 per cent growth in the same period of the FY13.
The export earnings stood at $11.81 billion in the first five months of the FY14 and it was $9.98 billion during the same period of the FY13.
The BB official said that an unfavourable business situation was now prevailing in the country due to the ongoing political violence which had
already put an adverse impact on the investment sector.
The businesspeople have recently adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach to expansion of their business by taking credit from the banks amid the political unrest, he said.
The BB data, however, showed that the service sector trade deficit slightly increased by 1.91 per cent to $1.38 billion in July-November of the FY14.
In the first five months of the FY14, the country received $1.30 billion from the service sector but it paid foreign sources $2.68 billion during the same period of the FY13.
The current account balance increased to $1.38 billion in July-November of the FY14 from $433 million in the same period of the FY13.
Net foreign direct investment increased by 1.36 per cent to $673 million in the first five months of the FY14 from that of $664 million in the same period of the FY13.
The country’s overall balance increased by 16.43 per cent to $2.04 billion in the first five months of the FY14 against $1.75 billion during the same period of the FY13 due to its strong position in the current account balance.
-With New Age input
