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Our Bureau

Trade deficit shoots up to $7.06 b in the month

New Delhi June 1 The country's exports during the first month of the current fiscal clocked a growth rate of 23.6 per cent at $10.57 billion, against $8.59 billion in the corresponding month of 2006 despite the debilitating effect of appreciating rupee vis-à-vis dollars on exporters.

Export growth

Provisional figures of foreign trade by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics show that while export growth was high in the inaugural month of the current fiscal, import growth too was higher at $17.63 billion against $12.54 billion in April 2006, logging a growth rate of 40.69 per cent.

Officials in the Department of Commerce told Business Line here that certain export segments such as gem and jewellery and petroleum product exports, which rely heavily on imported raw material, like gem stones and diamonds and crude oil have done exceedingly well, taking advantage of the relatively cheap import of these inputs to generate higher volume of business.

They said that in the case of petroleum products, the firming up of petroleum product prices have also fetched higher receipts.

Provisional figure

An official release issued by the Department of Commerce said that in response to an expert committee under the chairmanship of Director General, Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), to improve the quality of eternal trade data, an improved methodology for estimating provisional trade figures has been used while releasing April trade figure.

Accordingly, the provisional figure of the current period is compared with respect to past revised data thus giving only a single growth rate figure.

Imports

On the import front, oil imports during April 2007 are valued at $4.42 billion, which is 11.4 per cent higher than such imports valued at $3.97 billion in the corresponding month of 2006.

Non-oil imports during April 2007 are estimated at $13.21 billion, which is 54.29 per cent higher than the level of such imports valued at $8.56 billion in April 2006. The higher import growth reflects the resurgence in manufacturing activities noticeable in the economy in recent months as this sector uses up imported inputs and intermediates for manufacturing activities on a higher gear, officials said.

As a result of high export growth and higher import growth, trade deficit during April 2007 shot up to $7.06 billion from a level of $3.94 billion in April 2006.

More Stories on : Exports & Imports | Economy

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