Deficit in trade account during January- April widened to $ 2.94 billion

The cumulative deficit in the trade account during January – April widened to $ 2.94 billion from $ 2.69 billion recorded over the same period in 2020.

Central Bank said both exports and imports were significantly higher in April, compared to the lockdown period in April 2020, although both were lower compared to March. Cumulatively, exports were up 29.6% to $ 3.8 billion in the first four months of 2021, whilst imports were up 20% to $ 6.7 billion of which non-fuel imports were up 17.6% to $ 5.35 billion.Central Bank said the major contributory factors for this outcome were sharp rise in value of fuel imports, machinery and equipment, textiles and textile articles, chemical products and plastics and articles thereof. Recording the highest ever value for a month of April, earnings from merchandise exports in April increased by 189.8% to $ 818 million, from a significantly low value of $ 282 million recorded in April 2020 amidst the island wide lockdown measures due to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.Earnings from exports in April, however, were 25.2% lower than the export earnings of $ 1,094 million recorded in March, reflecting the impact of the beginning of the third wave of the pandemic and the festive holiday-related developments in April.Earnings from all subsectors of industrial goods exports improved substantially by 302.5% to $ 647 million in April, YOY. On a month-on-month basis, earnings from industrial exports declined by 22.0%, except for the subsector of petroleum products; leather, travel goods and footwear (mainly footwear); animal fodder (mainly dog/cat food); and printing industry products (mainly currency notes). Earnings from textiles and garments; rubber products; machinery and mechanical appliances; and gems, diamonds and jewellery mainly recorded declines compared to March. Meanwhile, earnings from the export of petroleum products improved in April over the preceding month due to higher exports of naphtha, while earnings from bunker and aviation fuel declined with the significant reduction in volumes of aviation fuel and bunkering fuel supplied to aircraft and ship arrivals, despite the increase in the average prices of these export products.Export earnings from all subsectors related to agricultural goods increased by 37.7% to $ 165.6 million in April, compared to a year ago, though contracted by 35.6% compared to March. Despite higher export prices, export earnings from tea declined substantially compared to the previous month due to lower export volumes. In addition, export earnings from spices (mainly cinnamon, pepper and cloves), coconut (both kernel and non-kernel products), seafood and minor agricultural products declined notably in April over March.  Earnings from all subsectors under mineral exports were also higher in April (by 332.9%) than export earnings in April 2020, but lower (by 10.3%) than export earnings in March. The decline in April over March reflected lower earnings from subsectors of earths and stone (mainly quartz), and ores, slag and ash (mainly titanium ores).The export volume index and the unit value index increased by 182.0% and 2.8%, respectively, on a YOY basis, in April. This indicates that the increase in export earnings was due to the combined impact of higher export volumes and prices.Expenditure on merchandise imports in April increased by 52.1% to $ 1.7 billion from low import expenditure of $ 1.12 billion in April 2020, when the effects of the first wave of the pandemic and low global petroleum prices were present. The YOY increase in the import expenditure was driven by the increase in imports of intermediate and investment goods. However, import expenditure in April was considerably lower (by 11.4%) compared to March ($ 1.92 billion), although import values in both March and April were higher than pre-pandemic levels.With declines recorded in both food and beverages and non-food consumer good categories, expenditure on the importation of consumer goods in April declined by 7.9%, compared to April 2020 and by 26.6% compared to March.