Bangladesh's trade deficit inflated over the $22 billion-mark in the first eight months (July-February) of the ongoing fiscal year 2021-22, as a result of higher import payment pressure on the economy.
Bangladesh's current-account balance also worsened as a result, hitting $12.83 billion, following higher trade deficit along with lower flow of inward remittances during the period under review.
The trade gap with the rest of the world increased more than 80% or by $9.95 billion to $22.31 billion during the July-February period of FY22, from $12.36 billion in the same period of FY21, according to Bangladesh Bank's latest statistics.
During the period, import expenses ballooned nearly 47% while export earnings recorded nearly 30% growth.
The overall import cost stood at $54.38 billion in the July-February period against $37.07 billion in the same period a year before while export earnings rose to $32.07 billion from $24.71 billion.
The current-account deficit rose to $12.83 billion during the July-February period of FY22 from $10.19 billion a month ago. It had a $825 million surplus in the same period of FY21.
Inward remittances dropped by 19.46% to $13.44 billion in the first eight months of FY22 from $16.69 billion in the same period of FY21, the central bank data showed.
The financial-account surplus jumped nearly 69% to $10.93 billion during the July-February period of this fiscal year from $6.47 billion in the same period of FY21.
Soaring deficits in trade as well as the current account reflect the growing imbalance on the external front, thus creating mounting pressure on the country's overall balance of payments (BoP).
The BB data showed that the BoP posted a negative balance of $2.22 billion in the first eight months of FY22 against a positive balance of $6.88 billion in the same period of FY21.
