YANGON, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's foreign trade recorded a deficit of over 1.7 billion U.S. dollars in first 10 months of present fiscal year (FY) 2019-2020, according to the figures released by the Commerce Ministry on Tuesday.
The trade deficit increased by more than 718.3 million U.S. dollars, compared to the corresponding period of last FY 2018-2019 when it registered over 983.9 million U.S. dollars.
The authorities have been making efforts to boost the country's exports and reduce the import of luxury commodities to decrease the trade deficit.
From Oct. 1 to July 17 this FY, Myanmar's trade with foreign countries reached over 29.7 billion U.S. dollars, with 14 billion U.S. dollars' worth export and over 15.7 billion U.S. dollars' worth import, the ministry's figures said.
This fiscal year's trade value increased by 1.89 billion U.S. dollars, compared to the same period of last fiscal year when it was over 27.8 billion U.S. dollars.
About 80 percent of the country's trade with foreign countries are done through sea route and its border trade is conducted with neighbouring China, Thailand, Bangladesh and India.
Myanmar's agricultural products, animal products, marine products minerals, forest products, manufacturing goods and others are exported while the country imports capital goods, intermediate goods and consumer goods. Enditem
