The country’s trade deficit hit its all-time high at $9.91 billion in the financial year 2014-2015 due to lower export earnings growth against higher import payments. Bangladesh Bank data showed that the country had registered a record trade gap, between export earnings and import payments, of $9.32 billion in the FY12 after which the deficit decreased to $7 billion in FY13 and $6.79 billion in FY14. The trade deficit had hit a four-year low in the FY14, but the gap registered its all-time high in the last financial year, indicating that the country’s macro-economic situation passed an unstable situation during the period, a BB official told New Age on Sunday. Former interim government finance adviser Mirza Azizul Islam told New Age on Sunday that falling export growth of readymade garments, the main export product of the country, dented the overall earnings in the FY15 while import payments registered an upward trend during the period. He said, ‘The import payments, mainly for capital machinery, registered a high growth in the last financial year despite sluggish business that created a suspicion of money laundering.’ He said that the import of capital machinery increased by 22.97 per cent to $3.09 billion in FY15 compared with that of $2.52 billion in FY14 while import of industrial raw materials increased by only 3.10 per cent to $15.18 billion from that of $14.72 billion. He said that the import of industrial raw materials usually increased more than that of the capital machinery but the trend showed an abnormal phenomenon in the last financial year. The country faced political turmoil in a major period of the FY15, so the country’s industrial sector did not require many raw materials. ‘But, huge import of capital machinery in the FY15 was not normal considering sluggish business. I think some of the importers were involved in money laundering through over-invoicing,’ he said. The central bank and National Board of Revenue should take a joint initiative to look into the matter, he said. The BB data showed that the export earnings registered a 3.33-per cent growth in the FY15 against 12.04 per cent growth in the FY14. The export earnings stood at $30.76 billion in the FY15 against $29.77 billion in the FY14. The shipment of RMG products rose by 4.08 per cent in the FY15 compared with that of 13.85 per cent in the FY14. The export of RMG products stood at $25.49 billion in the FY15 against $24.49 billion in the FY14. The import payments registered an 11.25-per cent growth in the FY15 compared with that of 8.92 per cent growth in the FY14. The import payments stood at $40.68 billion in the FY15 against $36.57 billion in the FY14, the BB data showed. BB officials said the prices of the country’s most of the export products were now on the decline on the global market in recent months which also hit the export earnings of the local businesspeople.
