Trade deficit nearly doubles MoM to $ 717 m in April

Monday, 2 June 2025 05:19 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The trade deficit in April had nearly doubled as against March due to higher imports and slower growth in exports.

In April, the trade deficit was $ 717 million, as against $ 396 million in March, reflecting an over 80% Month-on-Month (MoM) increase. The 2025 April figure was also higher in comparison to $ 558 million posted a year ago.

Exports in April grew by 10.4% year-on-year (YoY) to $ 968 million, whereas in March it was a record $ 1.24 billion, up 8% YoY. Imports in April grew by 17.5% YoY to

$ 1.68 billion, a figure similar to March ($ 1.63 billion, up 8.6% YoY).

The Central Bank said for the first four months of 2025, the deficit in the trade account widened to $ 2.25 billion.

Cumulative export earnings rose by 6.4% YoY to $ 4.3 billion during the four months ending April 2025, driven mainly by higher earnings from textiles and garments (11.6%), spices (66.3%), food, beverages, and tobacco (25.0%), and chemical products (42.6%), among others.

Import expenditure increased by 12.7% YoY to $ 6.57 billion mainly due to higher imports of machinery and equipment (26.5%), personal vehicles (707.9%), oils and fats (136.4%), transport equipment (142.2%), and sugar and confectionery (51.5%), among others.

The export unit value index decreased by 1% YoY in April 2025 due to lower prices recorded in exports of industrial goods. The import unit value index in April 2025 declined by 3.8% YoY due to lower prices recorded in intermediate goods. Accordingly, the terms of trade improved by 3% YoY to 78.7 index points in April 2025.