At the beginning of the financial year, the trade deficit is about 1.82 billion dollars: News Online

In the first three months (July-September) of the current financial year 2023-24, the trade deficit stood at 181 crore 80 million dollars. Last Thursday, Bangladesh Bank came up with this picture of the deficit in the current account balance of foreign transactions.

Currently, inflation has increased with the dollar crisis, which has put pressure on the country’s economy. Conditions have been added to imports to address the situation. Import of luxury and non-essential goods is controlled. Due to these reasons the trade deficit has decreased slightly. However, as the country spends more than its foreign exchange earnings, it has created a large fiscal deficit.

According to the data of Bangladesh Bank, the country has exported goods worth 1,293 million dollars in the first three months of the current fiscal year 2023-24. At the same time, goods worth 1,475 million dollars were imported. This has created a trade deficit of 181.8 million dollars in the first three months of the fiscal year in the country. In local currency the amount is about 20 thousand 180 crores. And in the first three months of the current fiscal year, the financial deficit of foreign trade is 392 billion 90 million dollars. Which was a surplus of $840 million in the same period of the previous financial year (2022-23).

Officials of the relevant department of the central bank said that it is more important to keep financial accounts in developing countries. The credit rating of the country depends on this index. Foreign investors are also not interested in investing if there is a shortage of funds. The time of giving the loan also includes various conditions.

According to the data, the rupee has depreciated by more than 16 percent against the dollar in the last one year. And in the last two years it is about 30 percent. A year ago it cost 96 to 100 taka to buy 1 dollar. Two years ago that was 84 to 86 taka. Finally, until last Thursday, every dollar had to be bought in the interbank currency market at Tk 111.

Bank officials say that despite the decrease in imports, remittances and export earnings are not coming as expected. Besides, the prices of all products, including energy, are on the rise in the world market. Apart from this, the decrease in foreign investment and the increase in repayment of previous debts are creating a deficit. In this situation, Bangladesh Bank is selling a large amount of dollars from the country’s reserves to avoid payment risk. This has also put a strain on the reserves. The foreign exchange reserves are decreasing continuously. Exporters did not bring home nearly 9 billion dollars of export income in the last financial year. Remittances are not coming in as expected due to hundi and money laundering. And because of these reasons, the dollar crisis has reached extreme levels.

According to the latest data of the central bank, the current account surplus in July-September of the current financial year stood at 892 million dollars.

In the first three months of the last financial year, this account deficit was 368 million dollars. However, the overall transaction (negative) in the first three months stood at 2.85 billion 50 million dollars. This index was a deficit of 331 million 50 million dollars during the same period last year. At this time, expatriates sent remittances worth 506 million dollars. In the same period last year, he sent 581 million dollars. Accordingly, remittances have decreased by 13.34 percent in three months.

Foreign direct investment or FDI in the country increased slightly. In the first three months of the last financial year 2022-23, the country received FDI of 143 million dollars.

During the same period in the current financial year, 149 million 50 million dollars have come. Net foreign investment increased slightly to 52.5 million dollars during the current financial year under discussion. In the same period last financial year, the net foreign investment was 50 million 50 million dollars. At the same time, foreign investment in the stock market has decreased by 4 lakh dollars.

In August 2021, the country’s foreign exchange reserves were more than 48 billion or 48 billion dollars. That reserve is now down to $2,642 million. According to International Accounting Standard BPM 6, reserves are currently $2,660 million. However, sector analysts say the actual reserves are even lower.