Bangladesh-India trade falls 79pc in Apr-Might on West Bengal hurdle

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Bilateral trade between Bangladesh and India fell by around 79 % to sole $424 million on April-May this year from practically $2 billion on the same amount of 2019.

Trade between the two neighbouring countries has been significantly affected during the period as a result of coverage taken by the West Bengal government, according a report of the days of India.

Trade volume between the countries also dropped to $2.9 billion in January-May of 2020 from that of $4.1 billion in the corresponding period of 2019.

West Bengal is proving to become a key obstacle to India’s neighbourhood insurance policy, the report said.

‘A decision by the Mamata Banerjee authorities to avoid all goods from Bangladesh through the Petrapole-Benapole border since March has led to serious damage to bilateral trade and it found a at once Wednesday with Bangladesh refusing to permit Indian trucks to cross the border,’ it said.

Bangladeshi exporters and clearing and forwarding agents likewise stopped importing goods from India through the route since Wednesday on response to India’s decision never to take any products from Bangladesh within the last three months.

Although import from India resumed on June 7 and a lot more than 4,200 trucks carrying Indian goods had entered Bangladesh until June 30, India did not allow entry to Bangladeshi goods-carrying trucks through the period, according to exporters, C&F agents and customs officials at the Benapole Customs Residence.

Bangladeshi traders, federal government officials, including foreign minister AK Abdul Momen, have their expressed dissatisfaction over the problem and urged the Indian authorities to resolve the standstill found in bilateral trade.

The Bangladesh Land Slot Authority also repeatedly requested the Indian side to permit Bangladeshi goods-laden trucks into India but there's been no progress up to now.

Exporters are actually facing losses due to India’s reluctance to receive Bangladeshi goods while trade imbalance, which is currently highly towards India, is rising as a result of crisis. 

The trade volume was $8.9 billion in the fiscal year 2018-2019. Of the, Bangladesh exported goods worthwhile only $1.25 billion.

Relating to ToI, Bangladeshi traders and the government have already been expressing unhappiness designed for sometime, which spilled more than on July 1 leading to Bangladesh stopping Indian trucks from entering the country.

However, sources said, 106 trucks have been let through into Bangladesh.

No exports from Bangladesh have already been allowed to come via PetrapoleBenapole since March 23, the day prior to the lockdown was imposed.

It briefly resumed about April 29, but turn off again on May 2, following some localized protests at Petrapole.

Trade commenced again on June 7 and the quantity slowly rose to around 250 trucks each day from around 24 a day.

‘But it had been all one-way trade with simply trucks from India likely to Bangladesh but nothing being permitted to come from the additional side,’ the record said.

There's been, however, not any stoppage of goods from Bangladesh via Tripura, but only through Petrapole-Benapole which accounts for about 70 % of the trade around Bangladesh and India.

Faced with a serious disruption in trade that could have a negative effect on other areas of bilateral ties, the Indian central govt is looking for different options to bypass the Petrapole-Benapole ICP.

For the very first time, goods have also been moving through the revived India-Bangladesh rail network.

On Fri, the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Interface, Kolkata announced that it would serve Indo-Bangla trade by introducing a new service between the

Kolkata Dock Program and Chattogram (Chittagong) through the IndoBangladesh Protocol Path, the report said.
Source: https://www.newagebd.net

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