$33 billion trade deficit in Bangladesh for 2021-22 FY

The financial year 2021-22 has just ended. In this financial year, the trade deficit is 33.25 billion dollars (more than 3 lakhs 14 thousand crore Tk), which is the highest in the history of the country. At the same time, the deficit in the current account balance of foreign transactions also exceeded 18.5 billion dollars. Last financial year there was a trade deficit of 23.77 billion dollars.

This information was found in a report published by Bangladesh Bank on Monday (August 1) on the balance of foreign transactions (balance of payments) for the financial year 2021-22.

Bangladesh has a big deficit in current account balance. Deficit (negative) for the outgoing fiscal year stood at $18.69 billion. In the previous fiscal year 2020-21, the deficit was $4.57 billion during the same period.

In addition, the deficit amount in the overall transaction (overall balance) of the financial year 2021-22 has stood at 5.38 million dollars. However, in the same time of the fiscal year 2020-21, this index had a surplus of 9.27 billion dollars.

According to the report, remittances equal to 21.03 billion dollars came to the country in the outgoing financial year. This is 15 percent less than the same period of the previous fiscal year.

According to the report, the export income in the last financial year was 49.24 billion dollars. Export income has increased by 33.45 percent compared to the previous financial year. At the same time, the import expenditure was 82.49 billion dollars. Imports increased by 35.95 percent. Trade deficit also widened as imports grew faster than exports.

The trade deficit of the services sector also increased during the period. Bangladesh earned 9.98 billion dollars in services sector in the outgoing financial year. On the other hand, the country has spent 13.85 billion dollars in the service sector. Deficit of service sector stands at 3.87 billion dollars. The deficit was $3.02 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year 2020-21.