Myanmar’s foreign trade reaches $1.5b in first 20 days of transitional FY gap

Myanmar’s trade with foreign countries in the first 20 days of the six-month transitional period has reached over 1.5 billion US dollars, according to figures from the Commerce Ministry on Saturday.

The government of the south Asian country has changed its fiscal year period from original April-March to Oct -Sept beginning 2018-19, producing a six-month transitional gap, Xinhua.

The foreign trade was increased by 298 million US dollars compared to the same period in FY 2017-2018.

During April 1 to April 20, the country’s export hit US$ 588 million while the import shared US$ 913 million.

Meanwhile, the country suffered trade deficit of US$ 324 million as of April 20, the official Global New Light of Myanmar reported Saturday.

In last fiscal year (FY 2017-2018) which ended on March 31, the country suffered foreign trade deficit of US$ 3.97 billion while the total trade amounted over US$ 33.3 billion.

The authorities are exerting efforts to boost the country’s exports to reduce the trade deficit.

The country’s agricultural products, animal products, fisheries, minerals and forest products are mainly exported to the foreign countries.

Capital goods, intermediate goods and consumer goods are mostly imported into the country.