India Posts First Trade Surplus In 18 Years
Newsletter Week 29: (Jul 12- Jul 18)
India posted a trade surplus of $790 million in June, its first in over 18 years, as the pandemic has hit domestic demand for crude oil, gold and other industrial products, government data showed on 15th July, Wednesday.
According to Refinitiv data, India last posted a trade surplus — a slim $10 million –almost a decade ago, in January 2002.
Asia’s third largest economy is projected to contract by up to 5% this financial year.
India went into lock-down in late March to prevent the spread of the corona virus, forcing manufacturers to close their factories and firing millions of contract workers. Imports of crude oil, electronic items, gold and other products fell sharply by the end of June.
In June, crude oil imports fell 55.29% year-on-year to $4.93 billion due to a tumble in global commodity prices as well as local demand. Gold imports were down by more than 77% to $608.7 million.
Indian exports and imports have been falling since March and worsening India-China relations, shrinking global demand and disruptions in supply chains are likely to pressurize the trade outlook over the next few quarters, stated analysts.
