The country’s trade deficit increased by 92.44 per cent to $3.71 billion in the first four months of the current financial year 2014-15 compared with that of $1.93 billion during the corresponding period of the FY14 amid a negative export growth. Bangladesh Bank officials said falling exports of readymade garments, the main product, dented the overall earning in July-October but import of capital machinery continued to rise during the period.
The deficit had posted a negative growth of 23.40 per cent in July-October period of the FY14, according to the latest BB data released on Thursday. The trade deficit was $2.51 billion in the first four months of the FY13.
The BB officials and a leading economist told New Age that the huge trade deficit would put an adverse impact on the country’s macro economy in the coming months due to the negative export expansion as the country’s GDP growth significantly depended on inward remittance and export earnings.
A BB official said the country had narrowed trade gap in the last two financial years but the deficit increased significantly in between August and October of the FY15 due to a massive drop in export earnings.
The BB data showed that the export earnings had registered a 0.98-per cent negative growth in the first four months of the FY15 compared with that of 16.93-per cent growth in the same period of the FY14.
The export earnings stood at $9.53 billion in July-October of the FY15 and it was $9.62 billion during the same months of the FY14.
The export of readymade garments fell to $7.75 billion in the first four months of the FY15 from $7.88 billion during the same period of the previous year.
The imports registered a 14.64 per cent growth in the first four months of the FY15 compared with that of 7.49 per cent growth in the corresponding period of the FY14.
The import payment stood at $13.25 billion in July-October of the FY15 and it was $11.55 billion in the same period of the FY14.
‘The negative export growth is highly harmful to the country’s macro-economic situation. Because, our GDP growth significantly depends on
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-With New Age input
