Monday, 1 September 2014

Current Account Deficit Narrows Sharply to 1.7 Per Cent in Q1

Current Account Deficit Narrows Sharply to 1.7 Per Cent in Q1


Current Account Deficit Narrows Sharply to 1.7 Per Cent in Q1
New Delhi: India's current account deficit narrowed sharply to 1.7 per cent of GDP in the April-June quarter of the ongoing fiscal year mainly on account of reduction in trade deficit and a steep decline in gold imports.

"The lower CAD (current account deficit) was primarily on account of a contraction in the trade deficit contributed by both a rise in exports and a decline in imports," the RBI said in a statement.

Current account deficit narrowed sharply to $7.8 billion, or 1.7 per cent of GDP, in the first quarter of fiscal year 2014-15 from $21.8 billion (4.8 per cent of GDP) in the year-ago period.

However, it was higher than $1.2 billion (0.2 per cent of GDP) in the fourth (January-March) quarter of the previous fiscal year (2013-14).

The decline in imports was primarily led by a steep 57.2 per cent fall in gold imports, which amounted to $7 billion - significantly lower than $16.5 billion in the April-June quarter of 2013-14, the RBI said.

Trade deficit contracted by about 31.4 per cent to $34.6 billion in the fiscal first quarter from $50.5 billion in Q1, 2013-14.

Exports increased 10.6 per cent to $81.7 billion. Imports moderated by 6.5 per cent to $116.4 billion.

Current account deficit, which is the difference between the inflow and outflow of foreign currency, had touched a record high of $87.8 billion (4.8 per cent) in fiscal year 2012-13 mainly on account of steep increase in gold imports.

It had narrowed to $32.4 billion (1.7 per cent) for the entire fiscal year 2013-14 after government imposed import restrictions on the precious metal

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