BoP more than doubles to USD 7 bn in March quarter

The balance of payment (BoP) sharply jumped to USD 7.057 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013-14 from USD 2.68 billion in the same period in 2012-13, RBI data showed today.
However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, it has massively shrunk from USD 19.103 billion in the December quarter due to a massive easing in the capital account in the period, the RBI data said.
For the full year, the BoP stood at USD 15.459 billion up from USD 3.83 billion in FY13.
Total capital account moderated to USD 9.195 billion in the March quarter from USD 23.787 billion in the December quarter.

The current account deficit narrowed sharply to USD 1.2 billion or 0.2 per cent of GDP in Q4 of FY14 from USD 18.1 billion or 3.6 per cent of GDP a year ago. In the December quarter, CAD stood at USD 4.2 billion or 0.9 per cent of GDP.
The lower CAD was primarily on account of a decline in the trade deficit as decline in imports was sharper than that in exports.

In FY14, current account deficit narrowed to 1.7 per cent of GDP, or USD 32.4 billion, from 4.7 per cent, or USD 87.8 billion in the previous fiscal.

"Contraction in the trade deficit, coupled with a rise in net invisible receipts, resulted in a reduction of the CAD to USD 32.4 billion in FY14," the RBI said.
On a BoP basis, merchandise exports declined by 1.3 per cent to USD 83.7 billion in Q4 FY14 as against an increase of 5.9 per cent in same period last year.
The merchandise trade deficit, on BoP basis, contracted by about 33 per cent to USD 30.7 billion in Q4 from USD 45.6 billion in the corresponding quarter a year ago.
On a BoP basis, there was a net accretion of USD 7.1 billion to foreign exchange reserves in Q4 as compared to USD 19.1 billion in the preceding quarter. Reserves increased by USD 15.5 billion in FY14 as compared with USD 3.8 billion in FY13, the RBI said.