Bangladesh's overall balance of payment (BoP) recorded US$ 837 million deficit during the July-November period of this fiscal year (FY), 2018-19, over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
The overall deficit in BoP was $479 million during the same period of FY 2017-18, according to the central bank's data.
Sharp fall in the country's financial account and capital account surplus were primarily responsible for the BoP widening.
The volume of financial account surplus almost halved to nearly $2.06 billion during the first five months of the current fiscal from $4.09 billion in the matching period of last fiscal, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) data revealed.
Besides, the amount of capital account surplus dropped to $49 million during July-November of FY 19 compared to $94 million in the same period of last FY, according to the BB figures.
Meanwhile, the country's overall trade deficit narrowed down further to $6.66 billion during the first five months of the current fiscal.
The trade deficit was nearly $7.61 billion during the July-November period of FY 18, the BB data showed.
Higher growth in the country's merchandise exports than that of imports reduced the country's overall trade deficit during the July-November period of FY 19.
Bangladesh's aggregate exports grew by 16.75 per cent to $16.77 billion during the first five months of FY 19 compared to $14.36 billion in the corresponding period of last FY.
On the other hand, the country's overall imports posted a 6.64 per cent growth to reach $23.43 billion in the first five months of the current fiscal against $21.97 billion in the same period of last fiscal, according to the BB data.
The country's service trade gap was $1.26 billion against in the said period of FY 19 compared to that of $2.0 billion in the matching period of last FY.
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