{"id":679658,"date":"2026-09-09T03:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T03:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/679658\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T03:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T03:54:18","slug":"trade-deficit-widens-to-2b-as-exports-fall-petroleum-fertiliser-imports-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/679658\/","title":{"rendered":"Trade deficit widens to $2b as exports fall, petroleum, fertiliser imports rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to BoP data, imports grew by 8.6% in July, while exports declined by 1.9%. As imports exceed exports, the trade deficit widens. <\/p>\n

\n 09 September, 2026, 12:55 am <\/p>\n

\n Last modified: 09 September, 2026, 02:44 am <\/p>\n

Infographics: TBS<\/p>\n

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\"Infographics:<\/p>\n

Infographics: TBS<\/p>\n

Bangladesh’s trade deficit widened in July, the first month of the current fiscal year, mainly due to higher imports of petroleum products and fertiliser, while exports declined.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

The trade deficit rose to $2.09 billion in July, compared with $1.5 billion in the same month of the previous fiscal year, according to balance of payments data released by the Bangladesh Bank yesterday (8 September).<\/p>\n

According to BoP data, imports grew by 8.6% in July, while exports declined by 1.9%. As imports exceed exports, the trade deficit widens.<\/p>\n

Petroleum product imports amounted to $1.37 billion in July, up from $750 million in the same month a year earlier, representing an increase of more than 83%.<\/p>\n


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Meanwhile, fertiliser import costs rose also by 50% to $187 million in July, compared with $125 million a year earlier.<\/p>\n

Dr Zahid Hussain, former lead economist at the World Bank’s Dhaka office, said a single month’s balance of payments data was not enough to draw any significant conclusion.<\/p>\n

“However, the trade deficit has widened because imports increased while exports declined. The deficit was also lower in the same period of the previous fiscal year,” he said.<\/p>\n

Current account surplus<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bangladesh’s current account surplus stood at $64 million in the first month of the current fiscal year, down from $125 million in the same month of the previous fiscal year.<\/p>\n

The surplus declined despite higher remittance inflows, mainly because the trade deficit exceeded $2 billion. However, the key factor keeping the current account in surplus was the strong inflow of remittances.<\/p>\n

Bangladeshis working abroad sent home $2.86 billion in remittances in July, compared with $2.48 billion in the same month a year earlier. This represents a 15.4% year-on-year increase in remittance inflows.<\/p>\n

Dr Zahid Hussain said the current account remained in positive territory because of the rise in remittances.<\/p>\n

“The current account could have gone into deficit because of the large trade deficit, but the increase in remittance inflows prevented that,” he said.<\/p>\n

Financial account turns negative<\/strong><\/p>\n

The financial account recorded a deficit of $677 million in July, compared with a deficit of $746 million in the same month of the previous fiscal year.<\/p>\n

The financial account had remained in surplus until June of the previous fiscal year.<\/p>\n

Dr Md Ezazul Islam, director general of the Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM), said the main reason for the financial account deficit was a $536 million net deficit under deposits, money and banking-related flows (DMBs and NBDCs).<\/p>\n

“This means payments to overseas banks increased, resulting in higher outflows of funds from the country,” he said.<\/p>\n

In July of the previous fiscal year, this component had recorded a surplus of $53 million.<\/p>\n

Bangladesh Bank data show that the negative financial account pushed the overall balance of payments into deficit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to BoP data, imports grew by 8.6% in July, while exports declined by 1.9%. As imports exceed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[174],"tags":[79,179,18,19,17],"class_list":["post-679658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117239066314562652","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}