Bangladesh's trade deficit widens to $7 bn

Dhaka, May 21 (IANS) Bangladesh's trade deficit swelled to 6.59 billion in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year ending next month, a 13.04 percent increase from a year earlier, official statistics showed Sunday.

The country exported about $17 billion worth of goods while imported items worth about $24 billion in the July-March period of the current fiscal year (July 2011-June 2012), Xinhua reported.

The overall trade deficit in the same period of last fiscal year was nearly $6 billion when Bangladesh's export earning and import payment stood at about $16 billion and $21 billion respectively, the Bangladesh Bank data showed.

In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, Bangladesh's export and import earnings surged by 10.44 percent and 11.13 percent respectively compared with a year earlier.