India’s current account deficit widened in the July-September quarter as higher commodity prices and a weaker rupee widened the country’s trade gap, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed on Thursday.
In absolute terms, the current account deficit (CAD) (INCURA=ECI) stood at $36.40 billion in Q2 of fiscal year 2022/23, the highest in more than a decade. As a percentage of GDP, it stood at 4.4%, the highest since the June quarter of 2013.
The deficit stood at CAD $18.2 billion, or 2.2% of GDP, in the previous April-June quarter, compared to a deficit of $9.7 billion, or 1.3% of GDP, in the same quarter a year earlier, the release showed.
In a statement, the RBI linked the widening deficit to “a widening of the merchandise trade deficit to $83.5 billion in the first quarter of 2022/23 from $63.0 billion and an increase in net expenditure under investment income”.