Bangladesh’s trade deficit has widened as imports climb while export earnings recede. The gap over the first eight months of the current fiscal year approached $17 billion, up from roughly $14 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Bangladesh Bank released balance of payments data for July through February on Wednesday. Imports reached $46.17 billion over the eight months, and exports $29.26 billion. The resulting deficit stands at $16.91 billion — a deterioration of $3.21 billion from $13.70 billion a year ago.

Export receipts have weakened this fiscal year while the import bill has grown, said Arif Hossain Khan, executive director and spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank. “The trade deficit couldn’t be contained as a result.” He noted that the country’s overall balance of payments remains positive nonetheless — a welcome signal amid global instability. Record remittances from Bangladeshis abroad have proved decisive.

Export Promotion Bureau data trace a similar arc. Export growth jumped 24.9 percent in July last year to open the fiscal year, then fell in each of the next eight months. The steepest drop came this March, when exports declined 18.07 percent to $3.48 billion from $4.25 billion a year earlier. February contracted 12.03 percent and January 0.50 percent.

Central bank figures indicate exports totalled $30.03 billion in the first eight months of 2024–25. They have since slipped to $29.26 billion in the current period, a drop of 2.6 percent. Imports, meanwhile, climbed 5.6 percent to $46.17 billion from $43.74 billion a year earlier. With the export picture looking bleak in March, the trade deficit reported in the balance of payments will widen again this month.

Remittances tell a far stronger story. Inflows surged more than 21 percent to $22.45 billion over the eight months, against $18.49 billion a year earlier. That surge has cushioned the current account even as export performance has flagged. It has also helped steady foreign reserves. Gross reserves now stand at $34.64 billion, or $29.95 billion under the BPM6 standard, according to Bangladesh Bank.

Despite the trade deficit, the overall balance of payments posted a surplus of $3.43 billion for the July–February period, reversing a deficit of $1.16 billion a year earlier. The financial account swung particularly sharply, from a $430 million surplus to $4.08 billion.