DHAKA, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's trade deficit in July, the first month of the current 2023-24 fiscal year, dipped by 69.73 percent to 635 million U.S. dollars year on year, according to the latest data from the central bank.
The Bangladesh Bank data revealed that the country's import payment was 4,991 million dollars in July, down 14.92 percent, while earnings from exports stood at 4,356 million dollars, up 15.61 percent, during the same period.
The data showed the gap between Bangladesh's export earnings and import payments in the first month of the previous 2022-23 fiscal year (July 2022-June 2023) was 2,098 million dollars.
Bangladesh's trade deficit in the last 2022-23 fiscal year dipped by 48.41 percent to 17.16 billion dollars year on year amid shrinking forex reserves-depressed imports.
In its bid to boost the country's shrinking forex reserves, which eroded to 29.23 billion dollars at the end of the last month, the bank has taken various measures to discourage imports. ■
