Comments
The trade deficit narrowed marginally to $13.82 billion in November, even as merchandise exports rose 30.55 per cent and gold imports saw a sharp drop.
The trade deficit had widened to a near three-year high of $14.02 billion in October. It had been lower, at around $13.39 billion, in November 2016.
Data released on Friday showed that merchandise exports rose $26.19 billion in November this year, compared to $20 billion in November 2016. Exports of chemicals, petroleum products, engineering goods and gems and jewellery saw significant growth in November, according to an official release.
Goods imports during the month rose 19.61 per cent to $40.02 billion, against $33.46 billion in the previous November. Oil imports jumped up by 39.14 per cent to $9.55 billion, compared to $6.8 billion in November last year.
Significantly, gold imports fell by 25.96 per cent in November to $3.26 billion, compared to $4.41 billion a year ago.
Seasonal decline“A seasonal decline in gold imports and completion of export orders prior to the quarter-end are likely to soften the merchandise trade deficit in December 2017, relative to the levels seen in the previous two months. However, elevated commodity prices suggest that the trade deficit may continue to print in double digits,” said Aditi Nayar, Principal Economist, ICRA.
On a cumulative basis, trade deficit for April-November is estimated at $60.92 billion, compared to $30.09 billion during the same period last year.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.