Trade Deficit in September 2021: Trade deficit stood at $33.4 billion last monthThe country's merchandiseexports rose 21.35 per cent to $33.44 billion in September 2021 on an annual basis, driven by key sectors such as engineering goods and petroleum products, according to government data.
Merchandise imports stood at $56.38 billion last month, registering an increase of 84.75 per cent compared to the year-ago period, when it was at$30.52 billion.
Imports were up 49.58 per cent compared toSeptember 2019 when it was at $37.69 billion.In September 2021, the trade deficit - the gap between imports and exports, stood at$22.94 billion as gold imports jumped almost 750 per cent to $5.11 billion.
Trade deficit stood at $78.81 billion during the April-September period, according to data by the commerce industry.The value of non-petroleumexportsin September stood at $28.53 billion -a growth of 18.72 per cent against the year-ago period and 26.32 per cent higher compared to September 2019.Exportsof engineering goods stood at $9.42 billion -36.7 per cent higher compared to the year-ago period.
The outward shipments of petroleum is estimated at $4.91 billion in September, registeringan increase of 39.32 per cent over the year-ago period.
However, the exportsof drugs and pharmaceuticalsregistered a decline of 8.47 per cent.Additionally, the imports of petroleum, crude and products rose almost200 per cent to $17.436 billion in September on an annual basis.Similarly, the value of non-petroleum imports was at $38.95 billion in September -an increase of 57.73 per cent compared to the same period a year ago, and 36.14 per cent over September 2019.Data showed that theexportsin the first half of the current fiscal - April-September 2021 stood at $197.11 billion.
This marked an increase of 56.92 per cent, compared to $125.61 billionin the year-ago period and 23.84 per cent compared to April-September 2019 period.