Rahul slams government over trade deficit touching all-time high

Congress leader and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Slamming the Modi government, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday (December 18, 2024) said prioritising crony businesses over play-fair ones leads to weakened manufacturing sector, depreciating currency, record high trade deficits, high interest rates, falling consumption and soaring inflation.

Tagging a media report which said that trade deficit and imports are at an all-time high, Mr. Gandhi hit out at the government.

Read Editorial: Trade shocker: On November’s trade estimates

“What happens when a government prioritises crony businesses over play-fair businesses?” Mr. Gandhi said.

“Result: Weakened manufacturing sector, depreciating currency, record high trade deficits, high interest rates, falling consumption and soaring inflation,” he said in a post on X.

After recording double-digit growth in October, India’s exports in November contracted by 4.85 per cent year-on-year to USD 32.11 billion, while the trade deficit widened to an all-time high of USD 37.84 billion due to record surge in gold imports.

According to the Commerce Ministry data, imports rose by 27 per cent year-on-year to a record USD 69.95 billion in November due to high inbound shipments of vegetable oil, fertiliser, and silver.

Gold imports during the month under review soared to an all-time high of USD 14.8 billion as against USD 3.5 billion in November 2023.

Cumulatively, during April-November this fiscal, exports increased by 2.17 per cent to USD 284.31 billion and imports by 8.35 per cent to USD 486.73 billion.

Trade deficit, the difference between imports and exports, during April-November widened to USD 202.42 billion from USD 170.98 billion during April-November 2023.