India’s trade deficit widens to two-and-a-half year high in May

NEW DELHI India’s trade deficit further widened to $ 13.84 billion in May, its highest in two-and-a-half years, on higher gold imports, government data showed on Thursday.

The deficit was $ 13.25 billion in April.

Gold imports surged to nearly $ 5 billion from $ 3.85 billion a month ago. Year-on-year, the import of the precious metal more than trebled.

Merchandise exports for May came in at $ 24.01 billion, up 8.32 percent from a year ago. Goods imports for the month were $ 37.86 billion, a gain of 33.09 percent from the same period last year, data from the commerce and industry ministry showed.