The BoP witnessed a $59 million deficit during the same period of the last fiscal year (FY).

Foreign direct investment (FDI) reached $325 million in July-February period this fiscal, registering a 34 percent drop, as the amount was $489 million during the same period of 2005-06 fiscal.

Foreign aid also marked a 38 percent fall as the country received $532 million aid during the first eight months in this fiscal, while it was $850 million in the corresponding period of last fiscal, according to the Economic Relations Division.

However, portfolio investment increased 162 percent during the eight-month period of this fiscal to $42 million, which was $16 million during the same period in the last fiscal.

Remittance jumped by 27.55 percent during the period of the current fiscal compared to the last fiscal's to reach $3.82 billion. The surge was mainly due to the increased use of official channels by the Bangladeshis abroad to send their money home.

However, trade imbalance went up to 18.33 percent this fiscal as imports surpassed exports. Trade imbalance recorded a larger deficit of US$2.09 billion during July-February in FY2006-07 compared to the deficit of US$ 1.77 billion during the same period in FY2005-06.

The July-February exports fetched $8.02 billion, posting a growth of around 21.13 percent. The earning from exports during the same period in last fiscal was $6.62 billion.

Imports during the first eight months of this fiscal increased 20.47 percent to reach $11.12 billion against $9.23 billion in the same period of previous fiscal.

Despite larger deficits in services and income, current account balance posted a surplus of $484 million during July-February period in 2006-07 financial year, down from $423 million during the same period of 2005-06.