Bangladesh’s annual bilateral trade with China crossed $9.0 billion (900 crore) mark for the first time in the last fiscal year (FY15). At the same time the trade gap with the country also surged while that with India declined. The trade deficit with China widened to $7.42 billion in the last fiscal year from $6.8 billion in the FY14. On the other hand, the trade gap with India declined to $5.8 billion in the last fiscal year from $ 6.03 billion mainly due to a fall in imports but a rise in exports. The FE analysis of the latest import data released by the Bangladesh Bank (BB) and the export data released earlier by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) presented the scenario. Trade with China crosses $9b “Any higher trade gap with any trading partner is not a matter of concern,” said Dr Zahid Hossain, chief economist of the World Bank in Dhaka. “Bangladesh is importing essential commodities, industrial raw materials and consumer products from these two countries. But, exports to these countries are very low. So, trade gaps are also very high.” Imports from China increased by 9.0 per cent in the last fiscal year to $ 8.21 billion from $7.54 billion in the FY 14. Export earnings from China stood at $791 million in the last fiscal year, just up from $746.1 million in the FY 14. But the growth slowed in the last fiscal after remaining robust in the previous two fiscal years. The combined bilateral official trade with China stood at $9 billion in the FY 15, up by 9.2 per cent from $8.28 billion. On the other hand, imports from India declined to $5.28 billion in the FY ’15 from $5.57 billion in the previous fiscal year. But exports to India increased by 15.4 per cent in the last fiscal year to $527.16 million from $456.6 million in the FY ’14. Thus the combined official trade with India stood at $ 6.34 billion in the last fiscal year, down from $6.49 billion in the FY14. “Bangladesh’s export to India is facing several non-tariff barriers, although the country allows tariff-free market access,” said Dr Zahid. “For exports to China, there are no such barriers so far.” India announced tariff-free access for nearly all Bangladeshi products during the Saarc summit in the Maldives in November 2011. But the country’s annual exports to India had experienced a fluctuating trend since then. Exports dropped in one year and then increased in the next year – this has been the trend since the FY 11. On the other hand, China has allowed tariff-free access for 4,888 products for the LDCs (Least-developed countries) since 2010, which covered around 90 per cent of Bangladeshi exportable items. The only condition to avail the tariff preference is 35 per cent local value addition. Exports to China had experienced an upward trend since then. By the end of this year, China will extend zero tariff treatment to 97 per cent of items from all LDCs.
