Bangladesh's trade deficit widened by more than $1 billion to about $4 billion in July to November, the first five months of the current fiscal year, compared with the same period of the previous fiscal year, central bank officials said Saturday. They said that during the period Bangladesh had exported nearly $8.26 billion worth of products while importing more than $12.25 billion worth of products.
Total exports were about $6.1 billion in the first five months of the previous fiscal year and imports about $8.98 billion in the period. During the first five months of the current fiscal year the cost of rice imports was more than $267.2 million, up from only about $6.0 million previously, officials said. Bangladesh's food import bill is likely to rise by 15 percent to $1.05 billion in the year to June as the government has decided to buy more grains and secure supplies amid soaring prices in global markets.