The country’s trade deficit declined to $1.26 billion in the first quarter of the current financial year from $1.87 billion in the corresponding period of the FY13.
The deficit narrowed by 37.37 per cent in July-September of the FY14 compared with that of a negative growth of 1.67 per cent in the same period of the FY13, according to the latest BB data released on Tuesday. The trade deficit was $1.90 billion in the first quarter of the FY12.
A BB official told New Age that the reasons for the narrowed trade deficit were the rise in exports and the drop in imports.
He said that the country had been maintaining a narrowed trade gap since October 2012 but the gap had not created any positive sign for the macro-economic situation.
He said that the import of industrial raw materials, capital machinery and intermediary goods had declined in accordance with the country’s industrial requirement over the last and the current financial years due to political turbulence.
For this reason, the widened trade deficit has not brought any optimistic impact on the industrial sector, which is considered as growth engine for the GDP growth, he said.
The exports posted a robust growth in the first three months of the FY14, but the growth of import failed to achieve an expected level in the period due to a stagnant situation in the investment sector in the country amid political unrest ahead of the general elections, he said.
The country’s export earning increased by 22.04 per cent in the first three months of the FY14 compared with that of 1.22 per cent growth in the same period of the FY13.
The export earning stood at $7.53 billion in the first quarter of the FY14 and it was $6.17 billion during the same quarter of the FY13. The export earning was $6.10 billion in the first quarter of the FY12.
The imports registered a 9.37 per cent growth in the first three months of the FY14 compared with that of around 0.49 per cent growth in the corresponding period of the FY13.
The import stood at $8.80 billion in July-September of the FY14 and it was $8.05 billion in the same period of the FY13. The import was $8.01 billion in the first quarter of the FY 12.
The import increased in the first quarter as the import of food grains had increased by 130 per cent in the first quarter of the FY14 compared with that of a negative growth of 43.26 per cent in the same period of the FY13, the BB official said.
He said ‘An unfavourable business situation is now prevailing in the country due to the recent spates of political violence which has already put an adverse impact on the investment sector. As a result, the businesspeople felt discouraged in importing products from abroad.’
The BB data, however, showed that the service sector deficit increased by 4.18 per cent to $872 million in the first three months of the FY14.
In July-September of the FY14, the country received $756 million from the service sector but it paid foreign sources $1.62 billion in the first quarter of the FY13.
-With New Age input
