New Delhi: At $19.1 billion, India’s merchandise trade deficit was at a four-month high in April this year, owing to a surge in gold and oil imports, and a marginal increase in exports in comparison to the corresponding period in the previous year.
The goods trade deficit had gone up to $19.1 billion in April from $15.6 billion in March. In April 2023, it had stood at $14.4 billion.
The deficit figures for April this year fell short of the expectations of economists, who had said the deficit would be down to $17.23 billion.
Exports in April this year marginally rose to $34.99 billion compared to $34.62 billion recorded last year during the same period. In fact, the exports in April this year dropped from the previous months, when they stood at $41.68 billion.
According to a senior official from the commerce ministry quoted by Livemint, said both exports and imports have had seasonal impacts, doing well in some months and staying relatively muted during others. He said April saw such a seasonal impact on exports.
Indian exports are being impacted due to a slowdown in global growth, in turn, impacted by the tightening of interest rates resulting out of persistent inflation, particularly in Western economics. Consequently, there has been a slowdown in global business, investment and trade.
Following a contraction in global trade in 2023, there has been a slow pace of pickup in 2024, which is directly resulting from high energy prices and inflation. The ongoing crisis in West Asia, Ukraine, and the Red Sea has also had an impact on world trade.
At $54.09 billion in April, the total value of merchandise imports in the case of India were higher than the $49.06 billion imports recorded during the same period of the previous year. In March 2024, merchandise imports stood at $57.28 billion.
Even gold imports doubled to $3.11 in comparison to $1.53 billion in March and $1.01 billion in April 2023. As the world’s third-biggest consumer of oil, India imported $16.46 billion of oil in April compared with $17.23 billion in March and $13.69 billion in April 2023.
