In the first seven months of the current fiscal year 2020-21, Bangladesh has a trade deficit of 978 million dollar. This information has been found in the updated report on the balance of payments of Bangladesh Bank for the current period of foreign transactions in July-January.

In this regard, the data of the Central Bank's balance of payments says that in the first seven months of the fiscal year 2020-21, Bangladesh has earned 2,213 crore dollars in the export sector including EPZ. In contrast, importers have spent 3,192 crore dollars. As a result, the trade deficit stood at 978 crore 70 lakhs dollars in seven months. The deficit in the domestic currency is about Tk 83,190 crore.

Bangladesh earned 1.02 percent less by exporting goods during this period as compared to the previous year. On the other hand, the cost of importing goods has decreased by 26 percent over the previous year. The demand for imports was also less as the demand for investment in the country was less. So the import cost has not increased much. However, the trade deficit has narrowed due to strong remittance inflows to the country's expatriates. In the first seven months, remittances increased by about 35 percent.

Sunbd/NJ