The New Nation - Internet Edition

Pulack Ghatack

The country is becoming increasingly dependent on the remittances from the expatriate workers, as it is being more and more helpless to clear its liabilities from its export earnings.

Imports of essentials including staple food, rice have been rising. Imports of oil, capital machineries and primary products are also on the rise as the countries industrial production is heavily depended on imported raw materials.

At the same time fashionable and luxurious items are also glutting the domestic markets to cater to growing number of the rich whose income and assets are ballooning in sharp contrast to the vast majority.

Imports for July-May this year went up by more than 24 percent from a year earlier, while exports increased by 15.27 percent bringing the trade deficit to US $5.04 billion from US $3.29 billion in the same period of last year.

Trade deficit in the just-concluded financial year (2007-2008) amounted to US$ 6.26 billion, which is nearly two and a half billion dollars more than that of the previous year.

According to Bangladesh Bank (BB) statistics, the country imported products worth US$20.37 billion against export earnings of US $14.11 billion in 2007-08 financial year.

In fiscal year 2006-07, the import bill was around US $15.97 biilion against export earnings of $12.18 billion.

Sharp rises in world prices of grains, including rice and wheat, as well as fertiliser and oil also contributed to swelling the liabilities for imports, some experienced sources said.

The Government's military and civil procurements is also increasing in accordance with the expansion of the economy, which is putting more pressure on the balance of payments (BoP), sources in the central bank said.

As a result BoP slumped 89.7 percent in July-May to US $105 million from the same period a year earlier, they said.

Strong remittances from more than 5 million Bangladeshis working abroad helped offset the impact of the trade shortfall and kept the overall balance of payments in surplus, officials said.

In the outgoing fiscal year record US $8 billion remittances flowed into the country. The amount is expected to reach US$10 billion in the current fiscal year.

Expatriate Bangladeshis sent US$ 829.5 million in remittance in July edging the foreign exchange reserves to near US$ 6 billion. Like the outgoing year the trend of increased remittance inflow continued at the beginning of the current fiscal year.

Overseas employment during the current fiscal is hoped to break the previous year's record of 8 lakh 32 thousand and cross 9 lakh.

According to the sources in Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, the government cleared 590,000 applications for overseas jobs till July this year.