India’s goods exports declined marginally by 0.7 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in March amid weak global demand and ongoing geopolitical conflicts, while imports fell by a sharper 6 per cent largely due to lower gold imports narrowing the overall trade gap to an 11-month low of $15.6 billion, data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday showed. For the full financial year 2023-24 (FY24), merchandise exports slid 3.1 per cent and imports contracted 5.4 per cent amid measures taken for import substitution and curtailing unessential imports taking the overall trade gap to $240.18 billion compared to $264.9 billion in 2022-23, ministry officials said. Meanwhile, the trade gap in March 2023 stood at $18.96 billion. Lower goods exports during FY24 comes at a time when global goods trade remained weak amid declining goods demand, particularly in the west. The volume of global trade also slipped 1.2 per cent in 2023 due to lingering effects of high energy prices and inflation globally, as per the World Trade Organization. (ICE NEW DELHI)

Fonte notizia: The Indian Express