Economy Benefiting from Robust Trade

The growth in foreign trade in the first nine months of the current 2013-14 financial year (FY14) was 22.24 percent despite the political unrest of 2013 courtesy of the opposition parties.

By the same token, imports increased by 16.42 percent in the past eight months of FY14 when the country imported goods worth $26.14 billion. The higher import growth was driven by import of industrial raw-materials, equipment and machineries as opening of letters of credit (LC) for import of capital machinery rose by 54 percent, industrial raw materials by 5 percent and fuel by 15 percent in the first eight months of the current financial year.

Strong growth in export indicates stronger internal demand, which is the main driving force of an economy. Import of industrial raw-materials, equipment and machineries, drives industrial growth is vital for sustainable development.

Foreign exchange reserve reached its all time high by crossing $20-billion mark this year. Bangladesh also became the only South Asian country that has surplus in its current account balance. The balance was $2.02 billion till the end of February this year.

The current account surplus coupled with the steady export earnings and stable import made local currency Taka stronger compared to other countries in South Asia including India.