Trade deficit in 2015-16 financial year has come down by 10 per cent against the previous year, making it the lowest in six years.
It stood at $6.27 billion dollar, down from $6.96 billion in 2014-15.
Economist Zaid Bakht attributes the decline to a fall in cost of imports.
He said the fall in global food and oil prices have led to near-static import costs, which led to the fall in trade deficit.
“Meanwhile the export earnings also experienced a substantial hike, which also contributed to low trade deficit,” said Bakht, the research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
Between July 2015 and June 2016, the cost of Bangladesh’s imports was $39.71 billion, up by 5.45 per cent over the previous year.
Export earnings rose by 9 per cent at $33.44 billion.
Trade deficit is calculated from the difference between export and import, which is now at $6.27 billion.
According to Bangladesh Bank, the country has spent $2.19 billion in 2015-16 for importing fuel, which is 35 percent less than the previous year. Grain (rice and wheat) imports cost $1.08 billion, down by 37.40% from FY 2014-15.
Six years ago, during FY 2009-10 the trade deficit was at $5.15 billion.
It skyrocketed to $9.93 billion the next year, the highest in Bangladesh’s history, according to bdnews24.com.
