Dhaka, Feb 26 (IANS) Propelled by merchandise export and inward remittances, Bangladesh’s account balance recorded a surplus of nearly $1 billion in the first half of current 2012-13 fiscal year ending in June, a central bank official said Tuesday.
Quoting the Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, the official told Xinhua that “the current account balance showed a surplus of $850 million during the six months of the current fiscal year
2012- 13 (July 2012-June 2013)” against the deficit of $1.65 billion during
the corresponding
period of
the
previous fiscal year (July 2011-June 2012).
The central
bank’s
current account balance
and overall balance
of payments
have
maintained positive trend as export earnings and inflow
of remittances continued to grow though
at a moderated
pace, said the bank
official who preferred to be unnamed.
Bangladesh’s exports growth in July-December period of the current fiscal year surged 6.47
percent year on year
to $12.34 billion, the bank data showed.
Posting nearly 10 percent growth year on year, it showed Bangladesh’s overall
remittance
surged to $7.40 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year.
As growth in exports and remittances dipped, BB current account balance surplus slumped
in a
couple of months until November last year, the BB official said.
He said current account balance recorded a surplus of $41 million in July-November period,
meaning Bangladesh’s economy
absorbed
more than that it produced
in the months.
According to the official, comfortable receipts of remittances, however, helped the central
bank of Bangladesh cushion huge trade gap which stood at $3.68
billion during the first half of the fiscal year.
With relatively better positions in internal and external economic activities, Bangladesh’s
account balance recorded a surplus
of $1.704 billion in
the
last 2011-12 fiscal year.