Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)-Bangladesh’s current account surplus in the 2013-14 fiscal year concluded in June shrank by 35 percent to reach over 1.5 billion U.S. dollars as the country witnessed moderate growth in export earnings and inflow of remittances, an official said Tuesday.
Quoting the Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, the official, on condition of anonymity, said the central bank current account balance showed a surplus of 1,547 million U.S. dollars in the 2013- 14 fiscal year (July 2013-June 2014) against the surplus of 2,388 million U.S. dollars in the previous (July 2012-June 2013) fiscal, reports Xinhua.
He said the country’s current account balance, one of two major measures of the nature of a country’s foreign trade, stood back in positive in the 2012-13 fiscal year after entering the negative territory in the previous 2011-12 fiscal year (July 2011-June 2012) for the first time in about seven years due mainly to weakening growths in exports and remittances.
The current account balance recorded a deficit of 447 million U.S. dollars in the 2011-12 fiscal year, showed the BB data.
The country’s current account balance, which was back in the positive in November, 2012, maintained its surplus trend so far, thanks to the remittance inflow and increase in export.
Bangladesh’s current account balance also maintained positive trend in the last fiscal as export earnings and inflow of remittances continued to grow though at a moderated pace, the BB official said.
An Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) official had earlier told Xinhua that export income in the 2013-14 fiscal year grew 11.65 percent year on year to exceed 30 billion U.S. dollars.
On the other hand, according to BB data, the flow of inward remittances in the 2013-14 financial year fell about 1.61 percent to 14.23 billion U.S. dollars.
BBN/JF-20Aug14-3:30pm (BST)