India’s trade deficit last month widened more than estimated, after shrinking for four months as lukewarm demand from Europe and the US weighed on exports.
The gap between exports and imports rose to US$19.73 billion last month, the Indian government said yesterday.
The reading is higher than a deficit of US$18.2 billion forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey and compares with a US$17.43 billion gap in February.
Exports fell 13.9 percent from a year earlier to US$38.38 billion last month, while imports stood at US$58.11 billion, down 7.9 percent. Services exports rose to US$27.75 billion last month, improving upon their February performance of US$26.95 billion, Indian Directorate-General of Foreign Trade estimates showed.
Robust services exports are narrowing India’s current-account deficit, while providing some reprieve to the widening goods trade gap. This is easing pressure on the rupee, which is up more 1 percent against the US dollar this year, making it one of the best-performing Asian currencies.
Despite recessionary tendencies and global headwinds, exports did well, Indian Secretary of Commerce Sunil Barthwal told a news conference in New Delhi, adding that outbound shipments were higher than the previous month.
For the year ended March 31, goods exports grew 6 percent to US$447.5 billion, helped by growth in shipments of petroleum products. Imports rose 16.5 percent on year to US$714.2 billion last year on crude oil and coal shipments, which have a combined share of more than 36 percent in India’s inbound shipments.
Crude prices have climbed down from last year’s high of US$128 per barrel to US$87, helping the world’s third-biggest consumer of oil keep its costs in check.
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