18.11.14

Trade snippets: October 2014


India's exports contracted 5% to $26 billion in October due to a fall in shipments of engineering goods, gems and jewellery , and pharmaceuticals. With imports continuing to rise, trade deficit widened to $13.4 billion, putting fresh pressure on the government and the Reserve Bank of India to put fresh checks on gold imports.
Imports rose 3.6% to $39.4 billion as gold imports went up almost four times in October, while silver shipments more than doubled.The surge in bullion imports negated the benefit of cheaper crude oil prices. Due to cheaper petroleum prices, India's oil import bill was 19% lower at $12.4 billion, while non-oil imports shot up 19% to over $27 billion.
Gold and silver apart, the big worry for policymakers was the decline in exports for the first time in six months, which exporters said was on account of depressed sentiments in the US and Europe, and resulted in fresh demands for government support from lobby groups such as Fieo.
Economists, however, suggested that there was not too much of a worry at present.


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