Despite a moderate rise in the country’s merchandise trade deficit with the rest of the world in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year (FY20), the current account deficit dropped modestly during the period under review.

Bangladesh Bank statistics showed that the current account deficit declined to US$ 4.12 billion in the July-April period of FY20 from $5.32 billion in the same period of FY19.

The lower deficit in the current account helped to ease pressure on the balance of payments (BoP) as the overall balance recorded a surplus of $623 million during the period under review against a deficit of $590 million in the first 10 months of FY19.

The gap in goods trade stood at $14.22 billion in the July-April period of the current fiscal year, which was $13.98 billion in the same period of FY19.

The central bank statistics also showed that the gap in the country’ services trade with the rest of the world increased to $3.11 billion in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year from $2.63 billion in the same period of the past fiscal year.