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Country’s merchandise trade gap with the rest of the world crossed US$ 4.0 billion in the first two months of the current fiscal year (FY22).
Bangladesh Bank statistics showed that trade gap stood at $4.11 billion (or $4,116 million) in July-August period of the current fiscal year which was only $697 million in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal (FY21).
A big surge in merchandise imports against a tiny growth in exports widened the trade deficit.
Import payments stood at $10.85 billion in the first two months of FY22, recording around 46 per cent growth over the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Import payments were recorded at $7.43 billion in July-August period of FY21.
On the other hand, export receipts stood at $6.73 billion in the first two months of the current fiscal which was almost same in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
Balance of payments (BoP) table, released by the central bank this week, also showed that gap in services trade stood at $433 million in the first two months of the current fiscal year which was $255 million in the same period of FY21.
Central bank statistics also showed that current account balance posted a deficit of $1.24 billion in the first two months of FY22 which was a surplus of $3.22 billion.