Trade gap with India inches down

The country’s trade gap with India in the recently concluded financial year slightly decreased to US$ 5.28 billion from US$ 5.57 billion in FY14 due to rise in export earnings against fall in import payments.
Experts and Bangladesh Bank officials, however, said that the country’s trade gap with India was still high as different non-tariff barriers continued to limit Bangladesh’s exports to the neighboring country.
Bangladesh’s imports from India stood at US$ 5.81 billion in the FY15 whereas exports stood at US$ 527.16 million during the financial year.
The trade gap in FY14 was US$ 5.57 billion with an export figure of US$ 456.63 million and import of US$ 6.03 billion.
Export Promotion Bureau and the BB data showed that Bangladesh’s trade gap with India recorded an all-time high in FY14.
A BB official told New Age on Tuesday that the trade gap with India decreased in FY15 as the country’s export earnings from the neighboring country slightly increased while import remained static.
‘Businesspeople have recently adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach to their business expansion by opening letters of credit for import due to political unrest and uncertainty. For this reason, imports from India remained static in FY15,’ he said.
He said that the increased export to India in FY15 was not satisfactory as Bangladesh posted a paltry export figure of US$ 527.16 million in the last financial year. The export figure was US$ 456.63 million in FY14.
Former finance adviser to interim government AB Mirza Azizul Islam told New Age on Tuesday that the trade deficit of Bangladesh against India was still high as different non-tariff barriers continued to limit Bangladesh’s exports to the neighbouring country.
The businesspeople have long been raising their concern in this connection, but the Indian government is yet to mitigate the problem, he said.
Mirza Aziz said Bangladesh government should take steps to continue discussions with New Delhi with a view to removing the non-tariff barriers.
‘It is a natural phenomenon that Bangladesh usually faces a deficit with the neighbouring country considering the volume of India’s economy. But it is not acceptable that the size of the deficit has been maintaining for years,’ Aziz said
He said that the country’s businesspeople mainly imported industrial raw materials and intermediary goods from India.
‘The importers have no option to avoid the imports as such products are not produced in the country. So we have to try to increase the export volume to India to decrease the trade deficit with the neighboring country’, he said.

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