Bangladesh Q1 trade deficit widens on food imports

DHAKA, Nov. 9 (NsNewsWire) — Bangladesh’s trade deficit in the first quarter of the current 2017-18 fiscal year ballooned by 133 percent year on year to 3.65 billion U.S. dollars as food imports increased sharply, said a central bank official Wednesday, reports Xinhua.
Quoting Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, the official who did not like to be named said Bangladesh import payment was 12,199 million U.S. dollars, up 28.38 percent, in July-September period of the current fiscal year 2017-18 (July 2017-June 2018) while earnings from exports stood at 8,549 million U.S. dollars, 7.70 percent higher, during the same period.
The country’s gap between export earnings and import payments during the July-September period of 2016-17 fiscal year (July 2016-June 2017) was estimated at 1,564 million U.S. dollars.
According to the official, increased importation of rice, amid flesh floods in parts of Bangladesh in the last couple of months, pushed up the over all import bills.  Enditem