``Import bulge on expected lines…``, Economist Dipti Deshpande opens up on widening trade deficit
CRISIL Ltd Senior Director and Principal Economist Dipti Deshpande says, “June in particular saw imports grow very fast, and it's basically being led by oil imports. It's also being led by non-oil imports because we have the prices of minerals, crude oil prices, chemicals, all of that pick up very, very sharply. So this is not unexpected… If you look at the first quarter, export growth is around 15.5% or so, and much of it is led by oil exports, but you also have non-oil exports supporting. So we are not as worried about the trade deficit bulging as such. There are also services exports, which are quite supportive. So overall, if you look at it, our current account deficit forecast for the year is about 1 and a 1/2 per cent. It was less than 1% last year. So I think that's how we are looking at it… So there are risks, but at the moment we are not extremely concerned about the trade deficit and the current account deficit bulging very, very significantly.”
