Jul-Dec current account balance sees surplus
Remittance, export help turnaround with $33m excess
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Bangladesh now sees its current-account balance turn surplus, after months, mainly as significant growth in remittance and export helps out, official statistics show.
This means the country is a net creditor to the rest of the world.
The data with the central bank of Bangladesh show that the current- account balance stood at US$ 33-million surplus during July-December period by overcoming a deficit of over $3.47 billion during the same period a year earlier.
However, market analysts say the improvement in the current account results from persisting economic slowdown that lowers the growth of imports.
The trade deficit stood at $9.76 billion during the period under review. It was $10.88 billion during the same period a year before.
According to the latest balance-of-payments (BoP) statistics released by the Bangladesh Bank Tuesday, the country saw 26.70-per cent growth in remittance inflow while exports grew by 11 per cent in the first six months of this fiscal year (FY'25).
On the other hand, the import orders increased only 3.5 per cent, showing a positive indication in bolstering the country's foreign- exchange reserves.
As per the data, the country bagged $13.78 billion of remittance during the July-December period in an increase by almost $3.0 billion from its corresponding period's $10.80 billion.
During the same period of time, the country exported goods amounting to $22.32 billion, 11.0 per cent higher from July-December's count in 2024 when the figure was $20.19 billion.
The imports rose to $32.09 billion in the first half of the ongoing FY'25 from $30.99 billion recorded a year ago, according the BoP data.
Simultaneously, the country's financial account also shows an improvement with the surplus rising to $1.40 billion in the H1of FY'25 from previous H1's count in FY'24 of $604 million.
Capital account, another component of the balance of payments, also turned surplus at $217 million, up by more than 35 per cent from the same period a year earlier.
As a matter of fact, the deficit in the country's overall balance got reduced to $384 million now from $3.45 billion registered a year ago.