In the first five months of the fiscal year 2022–23, Bangladesh's trade deficit decreased by six percent year on year to $11.79 billion -- a de
In the first five months of the fiscal year 2022–23, Bangladesh’s trade deficit decreased by six percent year on year to $11.79 billion — a development that is likely to relieve pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
According to data from the Bangladesh Bank shipped $20.74 billion worth of goods between July and November of the current fiscal year, up 11.75 percent from the same period last year.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star’s Google News channel. In the fiscal year 2022–2023’s July–November period, imports increased by 4.4 percent year on year to $32.5 billion from $31.1 billion the previous year.
With the falling trade deficit, Bangladesh also registered an improvement in its current account balance, a record of a nation’s transactions in trade and services with the rest of the world, during the period.
Current account balance which was swelling until recently, declined to $5.6 billion in July-November of this fiscal from $6.2 billion a year ago, according to Bangladesh Bank data.
Some improvement in the current account balance was expected by the October-November period in view of the measures taken by the central bank to discourage imports, said Towfiqul Islam Khan, senior research fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue.
The declining trend of key imported commodity prices in the international market also contributed to a fall in import bills, he said.
The central bank’s measures to discourage import will ease pressure on the current account balance, but to recover the overall balance situation the nation needs to attract foreign direct investments, enhance foreign aid flow as well as timely recover loans provided to the private sector from the foreign exchange reserve, he said.
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