Bangladesh's trade deficit is likely to have risen by 57 percent to around $6 billion in the 2007-08 fiscal year that ended in June, due to sharp rises in global food and fuel prices, a senior central bank official said on Sunday.
"The import bills will be at more than $20 billion compared with export earnings of nearly $14 billion, leaving about $6 billion trade deficit in 2007-08 fiscal year," said the official, who asked not to be named. The import bill for the 2006-07 fiscal year was nearly $16 billion while export earnings were $12.18 billion, central bank data showed.
"It is a real reflection of soaring prices in international markets, especially of foodgrains and oil products as well as fertiliser," said Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, a private think tank.
Natural disasters that hit Bangladesh, home to more than 140 million people, last year destroyed nearly 3 million tonnes of rice and wheat, leading to a sharp rise in foodgrains imports. Rocketing food prices also pushed the impoverished South Asian country's annual consumer price inflation into double digits through the 2007-08 fiscal year, officials said.
Mustafizur said the huge trade gap had a tremendous pressure on the balance of payment, but comfortable receipts of remittances helped cushion its impact. Bangladesh's more than 5 million expatriate workers sent home a record $7.94 billion in the just-ended fiscal year, nearly 33 percent higher than in 2006/07.