Country's overall trade deficit narrowed by more than 37 per cent in the first quarter (Q1) of the current fiscal year (FY) 2015-16 mainly due to lower imports, officials said Thursday.
The overall trade deficit came down to US$ 1.51 billion during the July-September period of FY 16 from $ 2.43 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal, according to the central bank latest statistics.
"The existing level of trade deficit may continue in the coming months," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE. He also said both export and import may rise in near future.
The country's overall import payments dropped to $ 9.15 billion in the Q1 of the current FY from $ 10 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal while export earnings including export processing zones rose to $ 7.64 billion from $ 7.58 billion, the BB data showed.
Gap in services trade also declined to $ 962 million during the period under review from $ 1.19 billion due to decreasing services payments.
Trade in services includes tourism, financial service and insurance.
The declining trend in trade deficit has also contributed to achieve healthy current account balance despite the falling trend in inward remittances during the period under review, another BB official said.
The country's current account balance got into positive territory worth $ 739 million in the first three months of FY 16 from a negative balance of $ 293 million during the same period of the previous fiscal.
The flow of inward remittances dropped by 2.44 per cent to $ 3.88 billion in the Q1 of FY 16 from $ 3.98 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year, the BB data showed.
On the other hand, fiscal account surplus declined to $ 798 million in the Q1 of FY 16 from $ 1.53 billion during the same period of last fiscal year. The inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) increased by 35.65 per cent to $ 449 million during the period under review from $ 331 million during the same period of FY 15.
However, overall balance of payments (BoP) rose to $ 1.97 billion during the period under review from $ 1.18 billion in the corresponding period of FY 14. "The overall BoP may increase in the coming months because healthy position of the country's foreign exchange reserve," the central banker noted.
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