Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Bangladesh's current-account balance returned into positive in August, after years of negativity following lower import expenses and higher inflow of remittances.
The country recorded a current-account surplus of US$111 million during the July-August period of the current fiscal year (FY), 2024-25, against a deficit of $610 million in the same period of the previous fiscal. It had a deficit of $206 million in July, the first month of this fiscal, according to the statistics of Bangladesh Bank (BB), released on Tuesday.
However, Bangladesh’s trade gap with the rest of the world narrowed by over 9.0 per cent to $2.75 billion during the period under review from $3.04 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year, the official data showed.
During the period, import expenses fell by 1.20 per cent to $9.91 billion from $10.03 billion in the same period of FY'24 while export earnings grew by 2.50 per cent to $7.16 billion from $6.99 billion.
Meanwhile, the country received $4.14 billion in remittances during the first two months of this fiscal year, registering a 15.80-percent growth year on year.
Bangladesh’s financial-account deficit narrowed to $145 million during the period under review from $1.34 billion in the same period of FY'24. It was surplus $196 million in July 2024.
Actually, higher external spending against lower earnings pushed down the country's overall balance of payments (BoP) to $1.40 billion during the period under review from $1.69 billion in the same period of FY'24 despite an improvement in current-account balance.
BBN/SSR/AD
