Rahul Gandhi hits out at govt over trade deficit touching all-time high

Slamming the Modi government, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday 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, Gandhi hit out at the government.

"What happens when a government prioritises crony businesses over play-fair businesses?" 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 $ 32.11 billion, while the trade deficit widened to an all-time high of $ 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 $ 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 $ 14.8 billion as against $ 3.5 billion in November 2023.

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

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