Trade deficit narrows, easing pressure on forex reserves

Business Report:
In the first five months of the fiscal year 2022-23, Bangladesh’s trade deficit decreased by six percent year on year to $11.79 billion — a development that is likely to relieve pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
According to data from the Bangladesh Bank shipped $20.74 billion worth of goods between July and November of the current fiscal year, up 11.75 percent from the same period last year.
In the fiscal year 2022-2023’s July-November period, imports increased by 4.4 percent year on year to $32.5 billion from $31.1 billion the previous year.
With the falling trade deficit, Bangladesh also registered an improvement in its current account balance, a record of a nation’s transactions in trade and services with the rest of the world, during the period.
Current account balance which was swelling until recently, declined to $5.6 billion in July-November of this fiscal from $6.2 billion a year ago, according to Bangladesh Bank data.
Some improvement in the current account balance was expected by the October-November period in view of the measures taken by the central bank to discourage imports, said Towfiqul Islam Khan, senior research fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue.