Trade deficit widens to over 5-year high in June

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's trade deficit widened to its highest in more than five years in June, the trade ministry said on Friday, driven largely by a surge in oil imports.

Though merchandise exports rose 17.57 percent year-on-year in June, the trade deficit widened to $16.6 billion due to a rise in oil imports that surged 56.61 percent to $12.73 billion.

In May the trade deficit stood at $14.62 billion.

Merchandise exports last month rose to $27.7 billion from a year ago, while imports rose 21.31 percent on year to $44.3 billion, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.

 

India's gold imports fell 2.8 percent year-on-year to $2.39 billion in June from a year ago, the statement said.

(Reporting by Neha Dasgupta and Manoj Kumar; Editing by Malini Menon)