Trade deficit rose by 11.72% in Jul-Feb FY19-20

The trade deficit of the country stood at $10.77 billion in the July-February period of the 2019-20 fiscal year, up from $9.64 billion during the July-January period, according to central bank data.

So, the deficit increased by $1.13 billion or 11.72 percent in a month.

In the July-February period of the previous fiscal year, the trade deficit was $10.93 billion.

The current account balance also ventured further into negative territory to $1.83 billion in February from a $1.51 billion deficit in January. The deficit in the current account balance had been $3.97 billion during the July-February period of the previous fiscal year.

The Bangladesh Bank had last updated the Balance of Payments data two months ago on March 8 for the July-January period.

Md Serajul Islam, executive director and spokesman of the central bank, told The Business Standard, "All banks and all branches were not open at the same time during the general holidays. Even most departments of the central bank were closed, hampering data-updating activities. Now we have started updating the data again." 

"Normal banking activities will resume from next Sunday, so we will be able to update all regular financial data soon," he added. 

According to the latest data by the central bank, during the July-February period of FY2019-20, exports fell by 4.85 percent compared to that in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

Imports fell by 3.87 percent in the first eight months of the current fiscal year.

Export earnings of the first eight months were $25.60 billion and the import expenditure was $36.37 billion.

Data shows that in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, net foreign direct investment decreased by 7.35 percent to $1.71 billion, and net medium and long-term loans decreased by 15 percent to $3.31 billion.

In the overall balance of payments, there was a $214 million surplus – the figure was negative $499 million in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

Updated data by the Bangladesh Bank shows the country received $1.08 billion in remittance from migrant workers in April. Between July and April, remittance stood at $14.86 billion, which is 11.74 percent higher than that of the same period of FY2018-19.