Abu Sazzad :
The country’s trade gap with India in the last fiscal year (2013-14) witnessed all-time high because of soaring imports against lower exports. The country’s annual trade gap with India in the FY14 was $5.57 billion. Bangladesh exported goods worth about US$ 456.63 million against the import for $ 6.03 billion, according to the data of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
Economist M Mamun-Ur-Rashid said that India emerged as one of the largest sources of raw materials for Bangladeshi manufacturing industries, which is the reason of high trade gap; contrarily Bangladeshi goods face various non-tariff barriers.
The trade imbalance is mainly due to appreciation of the local currency against the Indian rupee and various non-tariff barriers (NTBs) including testing and certification and weak border infrastructure,
he said. Diplomatic failure is also a reason for the huge trade deficit with the neighbouring India.
Even though Bangladeshi apparels enjoy duty-free access, it could not make any significant growth in export mainly because of the non-tariff barriers and government’s lack of initiative in negotiation with the counterpart on different trade-related issues, said the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) Vice-President Md Helal Uddin.
Business leaders and experts are continuously demanding end of the non-tariff barriers to reduce the trade gap between the two next-door neighbours, he also said. The FBCCI leader urged the government to take the proper initiative with the Indian government to remove the trade barriers for the reduction of trade deficit.
Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Executive Director Mustafizur Rahman underscored the need for a comprehensive trade agreement between Bangladesh and India to resolve the issue.
‘It is a natural phenomenon that Bangladesh usually faces a deficit with the neighbouring country considering the volume of India’s economy but the size of the deficit has been increasing continuously day by day which is not acceptable’, said the CPD ED.
The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) should advise the exporters for maintaining the compliance issues that can improve the export from the country, said the CPD Executive.
Diversification of export products is necessary that can increase the export volume and reduce the trade gap with India, Mustafizur also said.
The country’s trade gap with India in the last fiscal year (2013-14) witnessed all-time high because of soaring imports against lower exports. The country’s annual trade gap with India in the FY14 was $5.57 billion. Bangladesh exported goods worth about US$ 456.63 million against the import for $ 6.03 billion, according to the data of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
Economist M Mamun-Ur-Rashid said that India emerged as one of the largest sources of raw materials for Bangladeshi manufacturing industries, which is the reason of high trade gap; contrarily Bangladeshi goods face various non-tariff barriers.
The trade imbalance is mainly due to appreciation of the local currency against the Indian rupee and various non-tariff barriers (NTBs) including testing and certification and weak border infrastructure,
he said. Diplomatic failure is also a reason for the huge trade deficit with the neighbouring India.
Even though Bangladeshi apparels enjoy duty-free access, it could not make any significant growth in export mainly because of the non-tariff barriers and government’s lack of initiative in negotiation with the counterpart on different trade-related issues, said the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) Vice-President Md Helal Uddin.
Business leaders and experts are continuously demanding end of the non-tariff barriers to reduce the trade gap between the two next-door neighbours, he also said. The FBCCI leader urged the government to take the proper initiative with the Indian government to remove the trade barriers for the reduction of trade deficit.
Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Executive Director Mustafizur Rahman underscored the need for a comprehensive trade agreement between Bangladesh and India to resolve the issue.
‘It is a natural phenomenon that Bangladesh usually faces a deficit with the neighbouring country considering the volume of India’s economy but the size of the deficit has been increasing continuously day by day which is not acceptable’, said the CPD ED.
The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) should advise the exporters for maintaining the compliance issues that can improve the export from the country, said the CPD Executive.
Diversification of export products is necessary that can increase the export volume and reduce the trade gap with India, Mustafizur also said.
