The country’s merchandise trade deficit with the rest of the world is set to cross $20 billion in the immediate past fiscal year (FY21) as the deficit already stood at $19.84 billion in the July-May period of the fiscal year.
The gap was $16.09 billion in the same period of FY20 whereas the annual merchandise trade deficit recorded at $17.86 billion.
Statistics released by Bangladesh Bank showed also showed that the gap in trade in services stood at $2.30 billion in the first 11 months of FY21.
Exports receipts, in terms of free-on-board (FoB) value registered around 14 per cent growth in the July-May period of the past fiscal year, according to the latest balance of payments (BoP) data released by the central bank this week.
Annual merchandise export earnings of the country, however, increased by 15.10 per cent to $38.75 billion in the FY21 over the previous fiscal year, according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data released on Monday.
Central bank data also showed that merchandise import jumped by 17 per cent in the July-May period of the past fiscal year over the same period of FY20.
The value of import payments, in FoB terms, stood at $54.23 billion during the period under review indicates a strong recovery of the pandemic-hit economy.
Annual import was $50.69 billion in the FY20, a decline by 8.60 per cent from $55.44 billion in FY19.
