Anisul Islam Noor :
The overall trade deficit increased by nearly 118 percent i.e $ 5.31 billion during the July-December period of the current fiscal 2014-15 from $2.44 during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, according to the Central Bank statistics, released on Thursday.
“The trade deficit may widen further in the coming months if the ongoing political uncertainty continues,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) opined. Imports increased significantly during the period under review mainly due to higher imports of capital machinery, according to the BB official.
Biru Paksha Paul, Chief Economist of BB said, higher imports in the sectors of power and energy, leather and tannery, electronics, food processing, shipbuilding, ceramic and melamine contributed to the rise of trade deficit in the H1 of the FY 15. “Trade deficit is not necessarily bad for an emerging country like Bangladesh because the major share of imports represents capital machinery and industrial inputs, which provide potentials of growth for the future,” he said.
Imports increased by 18.28 percent i.e $20.05 billion during the period under review, from $16.95 billion during the same period of the previous year, BB data showed.
The BB Chief economist said that the Central Bank had already projected that the trade deficit might reach $9.9 billion by the end of this fiscal. On the other hand, the country’s export earnings grew by 1.54 percent to $14.73 billion in July-December period against $14.51 billion during the corresponding period of previous fiscal.
The economist said, imports may be disturbed by the political turmoil but exports are decided by foreign income.
Besides, deficit in services sector increased during the period under review. Trade Gap stood at $2.50 billion in the H1 of the FY 15 which was $1.98 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal.
Trade in services includes tourism, financial service and insurance.
The country has earned $1.56 billion in services trade during the period under review while payment on services surged to $4.07 billion from $3.55 billion in the same period of the FY 14.
The country’s current account balance entered the negative territory in the month of September last due to increase of imports, as recorded by the Customs Department, the BB official added. He said the current account deficit increased by $111 million i.e. $1.42 billion during the July-December period of the FY 15 from $1.31 billion a month ago.
The current account was $1.44 billion surplus during the July-December period of the last fiscal year, according to the official.
