Trade balance plunges in Aug
Trade balance has once again gone into deficit in August after recording a surplus in July for the first time in history.
At the end of August, it was $999 million in the red, a deterioration of 26.5 percent over the corresponding period last year, when the deficit was $790 million, according to data from Bangladesh Bank.
A faster rise in imports than exports has been blamed for the widening of trade deficit. In the July-August period, exports increased only 1.94 percent year-on-year and imports 5.29 percent.
As a result, the current account surplus eroded 50.15 percent year-on-year, despite the 18.4 percent spike in remittance during the period. At the close of the second month of fiscal 2014-15, the current account was $327 million in the surplus, which was $656 million a year ago. At the end of July, the current account surplus stood at $997 million.
Meanwhile, foreign loans and foreign direct investment soared to take the overall surplus at August end to $782 million, a year-on-year increase of 19.4 percent.
Foreign loans soared 50.93 percent year-on-year to $326 million during the July-August period and net foreign direct investment 10.41 percent to $244 million.
Comments