The country’s trade deficit with India stood at $5.47 billion in the past fiscal year (FY17) mainly due to a surge in imports from the next door neighbour.
Merchandise import from India jumped by around 13 per cent in FY17 and reached $6.14 billion (or $6146.2 million), which was $5.45 billion (or $5450.7 million) in FY16, according to the statistics released by the central bank recently.
On the other hand, exports to India dropped marginally in FY17 to $672.4 million from $689.62 million in FY16.
India is the second largest import source of Bangladesh. It is also the third largest trading partner of the country after China and the United States.
India-Bangladesh merchandise trade stood at $6.81 billion in the past fiscal year, which was $6.14 billion in FY16.
India has been providing tariff-free access to all Bangladeshi products (except 25 restrictive items) since 2011.