Bangladesh surplus rises to $1bn

Propelled by merchandise export and inward remittances, Bangladesh's account balance recorded a surplus of nearly 1 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of current 2012-13 fiscal year ending in June, a central bank official said Tuesday. Quoting the Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, the official told Xinhua that "the current account balance showed a surplus of 850 million U.S. dollars during the six months of the current fiscal year 2012- 13 (July 2012-June 2013)" against the deficit of 1.65 billion U.S. dollars during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year (July 2011-June 2012). The central bank's current account balance and overall balance of payments have maintained positive trend as export earnings and inflow of remittances continued to grow though at a moderated pace, said the BB official who preferred to be unnamed. Bangladesh's exports growth in July-December period of the current fiscal year surged 6.47 percent year on year to 12.34 billion U.S. dollars, the BB data showed. Posting nearly 10 percent growth year on year, it showed Bangladesh's overall remittance surged to 7.40 billion U.S. dollars during the first half of the current fiscal year. As growth in exports and remittances dipped, BB current account balance surplus slumped in a couple of months until November last year, the BB official said. He said current account balance recorded a surplus of 41 million U.S. dollars in July-November period, meaning Bangladesh's economy absorbed more than that it produced in the months. According to the official, comfortable receipts of remittances, however, helped the central bank of Bangladesh cushion huge trade gap which stood at 3.68 billion U.S. dollars during the first half of the fiscal year. With relatively better positions in internal and external economic activities, Bangladesh's account balance recorded a surplus of 1.704 billion U.S. dollars in the last 2011-12 fiscal year.