The country’s trade gap with the rest of the world jumped by around 34 per cent in the last fiscal year (FY26), mainly due to a rise in imports of goods against the stagnation of growth in exports.
The annual balance of payments (BoP) statistics, released by the central bank on Sunday, showed that the deficit in merchandise trade stood at $27.28 billion in the last fiscal year, which was $20.40 billion in FY25.
Exports of goods, in FoB (free on board) count, stood at $43.86 billion in FY26, recording a slight decline from $43.97 billion in FY25. On the other hand, imports of goods increased by 10.50 per cent to $71.14 billion in the last fiscal year against $64.36 billion in the previous year.
Bangladesh Bank statistics also showed that the trade in services deficit increased slightly to $5.74 billion in FY26 from $5.68 billion in FY25.
Receipts from services export increased by 4.0 per cent to $7.06 billion in the last fiscal year from $6.80 billion in FY25.
Spending on imports of services rose modestly by 2.60 per cent to $12.80 billion in FY26, from $12.48 billion in FY25, according to the central bank statistics.
